This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at BMW Group, with it helping me to develop areas within marketing but also all other areas of business. Previously having studied the majority of marketing modules offered by my course, my placement gave me a further insight into how marketing from a corporate side works. BMW were more than happy to always help me in anything I wanted to find out or improve upon, helping me to decide on potentially a future career.
At BMW, you are clearly a vital part of the team, with a number of responsibilities being handed to you within the first 2 weeks of starting. Although this may seem daunting, there is always support when you need it, and will help you in anyway shape or form. This support also doesnt always come from your direct managers, but can be from anyone thoroughout the business, as everyone is always happy to help you improve or complete a project.
Support is clearly always available from managers, with the open plan office allowing to you, and being encouraged to, go and talk to people face to face. Managers are always happy to make time to help solve any queries you may have on a project, or to discuss personal development.
On a daily basis, there is a lot of work to be done the majority of time. There is seasonal variation but even at the slowest times there is work to be done. During these slow times, there is a lot of encouragement to expand your knowledge by speaking to agencies or going to other business areas, so work can be picked up quickly and efficiently.
A lot of responsibility is given from day one from BMW, with key projects going to a number of people can fall to you very quickly. Within marketing, this can even be to the extend of helping to manage the project of a new product launches or email campaigns going to a large chunk of the BMW database.
The skills I have learnt from working at BMW will thoroughly help me within my final year at university and also in a future career. The main one being time management as it has taught me how to keep track of myself but also others ensuring that deadlines are met and timing plans are stuck to. On top of this, the help I received internally helped me to learn new ways of planning and keeping track of a number of tasks.
The Company
The atomsphere of the office is incredible, with an open plan layout and hotdesking, you are able to sit with those you get on well with, or explore further to spend time in different departments. The vibracy of the office reflects directly onto the culture, with sofas and small working areas to be able to have meetings in a relaxed manor.
The work placement was very well organised, with rounds of interviews leading to being offered a placement. All of the time during this you were kept up to date regarding the application process and what the next steps were, with timely follow ups of whether you had been successful to progress to the next stage.
Flexi Time
Sports and Social Club
Subsidised/Company Gym
Company Parties/Events
Above 25 days holiday
Working from home
For working in BMW in the future, there are a few schemes which are able to develop you further, and stand you in good stead for future employment. After completing the placement, you are able to apply for a Speed-UP program which then enables you to be in a good position to return to the company after completing studies, although this is not gauranteed.
The Culture
The cost of living nearby to the office was reasonable, with adequete accomodation being available due to being near large universities, namely Reading, Winchester and Guildford. It was not difficult to find accomodation and BMW staff were able to help put you in correct or point you in the right direction.
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
South East
June 2017