NPI and Quality Intern Review

A really enjoyable year with plenty of chances to socialize with other interns and colleagues.

After only a couple of weeks of training I had sole responsibility of several functions; the volume and impact of these functions increased at a rate that matched my capability and I felt that my colleagues valued the contribution I made as much as the contributions of any other employee. Within 3 months of starting I didn't feel like an intern any more and was just part of the team.

Guidance was easy to find not only from your manager or the Intern Program Manager but also from any colleague. It's not too different from Uni in the sense that very few people on your Uni course would refuse to help you with some work that you struggled with but they understood well.

My workload at any one point generally reflected what I was capable of, and if I wanted more/less work it was usually just a case of asking.

Something that surprised and excited me during my internship was that I was given, at times, even more responsibility than I was capable of by myself. At times like these I had to rely on the help of my colleagues - help was never hard to find - and has been the best experience of my year.

I had generic training sessions with all other interns on things such as time management, presentation skills and Microsoft Excel applications but also more specific on-the-job training tailored to my role. I found the on-the-job training more interesting and a lot of the things I have learnt will likely be useful if I decide I want a job in this industry in the future. I did however learn the most through every-day tasks and several large projects throughout the year, and many of the soft skills learnt will be something I can apply to any job and in University.

I was in the R&D office and it was a great atmosphere to work in; all the people I was sharing the office with were relaxed and we could have a laugh.

Very well organised (much better than I expected of an internship). Not only do you have a manager, but there is a Intern Program Manager who has responsibility for everyone on the intern scheme (this year was over 30 interns) and they will set up training sessions etc and will also give you support if needed. My only criticism is that, although there was plenty of focus on what I wanted from the internship, there was not always enough focus (in my opinion) on what I wanted from a career with Eaton. It seems this is a much larger focus on the Grad scheme but I would have liked a dedicated half-day session between 6-9 months in to the internship to go over what opportunities there are and how you might fit into them.

A lot, much more than I expected (and talking to friends who had internships at other companies, it is quite rare to have so much investment in you)

I have a lot of respect for the company now and I believe I have gained the same respect back. I would like to experience working in the design of consumer products (something Eaton does not do a lot of) and only for that reason will I not apply for the Grad scheme straight after Uni. However, I would not have known that I wanted to do this without doing this placement year and if I decide in the future that I want to move into one of the industry sectors that Eaton covers then Eaton will be the first place that I apply as I believe that I will now have a better-than-average chance of getting a job at Eaton if I apply.

Very good. Eaton takes on a large team of interns (over 30 this year) and training events at different sites where everyone will meet up is a great chance to socialise with interns from other sites as well as your own.

I have been at the Cwmbran plant in South Wales and the living cost is really cheap. I managed to get a single room in a nice house with Sky, dishwasher, washing machine and garden for £300 per month all bills included.

Newport is a cheap night out and you can get a train to Cardiff which is a great night out,

Plenty. There are often after work football sessions and similar things at most plants and at my site we got involved with lots of charity events like fun-runs, cycle rides, band nights etc .