Operations intern Review

The placement was great for many reasons. Through a gradual and well thought plan I was gradually given more and more responsibility. The job itself was very interesting and through it I managed to make a meaningful contribution to the business. The responsibility given and the sense of achievement after good results was really motivating and made the quality of this placement excellent.

At the site I was based, over 10% of the workforce was made up of interns. This meant that, as well as having a great intern community, interns were relied upon to make a contribution to the business. I never felt I was considered as "the intern" but always part of the team. The people were great and it felt like a great family, everyone is always more than happy to help and just to have a chat. I was quite sad to leave by the time I finished the placement!

I had two managers and both were great: I was given a full induction to the business and very gradually I was given increasing responsibility. I always felt that I could ask them any questions I had and both were approachable throughout the placement.

I was quite busy throughout the internship and most of the days I would finish 20-30 min late. However, I never felt that I could not manage the workload. The nature of the job meant that the length of day-to-day tasks would change everyday, so at times I would be very busy while at other times I wasn't. I could dedicate those days to independent project work.

By the end of the placement, I could run one of the functions of the department I worked for, independently. This meant liaising with internal and external customers and being responsible in the work plan of a manufacturing cell and allocating priorities to orders.

I received two sets of training throughout the placement: one was provided by the intern program at a corporate level and I learnt general skills such as excel, project management, working in teams, effective written and verbal communication, etc. The other type of training was job specific. I felt both sets of training were extremely useful and I find I will use these at University and beyond.

Everyone was really friendly, from the operators on the shopfloor to the senior managers. It helped that the at the plant I worked at at approximately 100 employees which meant that everyone knows each other. There was plenty of banter as well!

At a business unit level I felt the internship was organised very well and taken very seriously. I can't say the same for the corporate level as the job for intern program manager was passed on to to three different temporary staff and it didn't have a clear strategy or direction. I heard that the company was going to hire a permanent person responsible for the intern program UK, so probably the situation will improve soon.

-Training -Travel to training events across the country -Time (...and patience!) from my managers to bring me up to speed.

I am waiting to hear back from Eaton about a place on the graduate program. If my decision was based purely on the experience of the internship I would definitely take it! However, I heard the graduate program is not organised very well, so I am undecided on wether I will take the offer.

The social scene was really good! There were weekly sport events open to anyone such us, football and running. The company also subsidise for special events such as obstacle race course, bike trail trips, Zorb football and social events such as the Christmas Party. It was a really good way to get to know colleagues outside of work and had great fun. Also, having 10+ interns at the site made nights out great!

Being a manufacturer Eaton sites are often located in places where the land is cheap. So the cost of living is very cheap.

Was great, Cardiff was only 15 min train from where I lived. There is a really great selection of bars and nightclubs to choose from. It was also quite cheap as well!

Yes plenty, as well as the wellness and sport activities there were also charity events, such as bake sales.