Co-Packing Procurement Buyer/Analyst (Co-Manufacturing intern) Review

I am very much enjoying my placement year in pladis Global - I would never have thought of working in procurement until I took this job and I am now quite certain that I would like a career in that function. I would like to come back here after my degree is completed. It was also useful to see the practical applications of my degree, economics, and how theories worked out in real time

I felt incredibly valued by my colleagues, and was treated like a full member of the team and held accountable as such. I don not feel I would have performed as well if I had been patronised and not treated like someone who had a job to do. Everyone here is lovely and very understanding in your first few months.

I was given excellent support from my line managers and senior management. I was taught business lingo, how to take notes, contract and price negotiations, how to deal with conflict, presentation skills, debating and persuasion, time management, prioritising tasks, and how to write emails depending on the rank of the recipient.

Co-Packing is quite seasonal - over the Christmas period I was rushed off my feet - other times I would have a fair bit of down time but I would always have or find something to do which wasn't directly in my job description - I would help the wider function with spend and risk analysis, and help my team with building spreadsheets and presentations to be used in high-level meetings

I was the only person within the business who looked after co-packing - there was no real back-up. So, there was quite a lot of responsibility put on my shoulders which was a good thing - I had been hired to do a job, and I had to do it - there was no-one else, not even my line manager, who could do the stuff I did.

I believe the skills I learnt will be incredibly useful not only in second year but for the rest of my life - especially time management, presentation and prioritising tasks which will be incredibly useful when it comes to my dissertation and final year.

Everyone in the office is lovely - There was a top-level management change at Christmas time and the atmosphere really improved as there was more emphasis on accepting responsibility for your actions rather than just finding someone to blame. This was a marked improvement and the happiness of the office is increasing every month

The initial induction was set up by the previous intern and I felt a little at a loose end, and almost abandoned. I have already competed several induction documents and have planned the induction period with my new line manager so hopefully the next intern will not have the same problem

We had several intern training days, which mimicked the Graduate Training Scheme. These were based in our various offices around the UK, and would include factory tours.

In November, I was asked to consider applying for the Grad Scheme. A month ago, I was asked by mu boss' boss that, if I wanted to come back, he would look into Level 4 (Grad scheme level) jobs that he could put in a good word for me for. If you are good at your job, you will be asked to come back - and not just good at your job, you also need to be a good team player.

I lived with two other interns at this company, but we didn't really get on. There's wasn't much of a social scene, but there is nothing really stopping interns and grads socialising. I just wasn't 'clicking' with the other interns. There were procurement social events, which mainly involved going for a meal. I enjoyed those as the whole procurement team were quite close knit.

The cost wasn't bad - We were 40 mins from Paddington by train/bus and 30mins from Ealing Broadway. Rent was very high though and increasing due to Crossrail - my rent was half my monthly take-home and that was with sharing a house with two other people. Brunel Uni is just down the road, and they apparently have student accommodation we can use, but emails to them did not come back with a response to me.

Nightlife was not really around. I lived in West Drayton, which was 30mins from Uxbridge, which had a nightclub and a Slug & Lettuce. I was 23mins by train to Paddington, and 16mins to Ealing Broadway. We didn't really go out

As in, standard activities to do that did not involve work? I think there was a gym in Uxbridge