Shift Manager Review

My placement year was not only a fantastic learning experience but I also made lifelong friends. The job role itself was interesting and engaging and allowed me to try out a wide range of skills. The skills I learnt will stay with me for life and i have been able to put into practice in my career now.

DHL has a long history of taking on Placement students and Graduates. The business is set up for these people and welcomes them. I found that as a placement student I could talk to anyone in the business at all seniority levels and was respected. I was able to gain insights from lots of different people and was never made to feel like i was "a student".

My managers and supervisors were always available to help me whenever i needed support. This was true of both business and personal support. Sometimes it can be difficult to move away from home for work where you are generally living alone. My managers reconginsed this and offerend me help and support - as well as just checking how i was getting on. Professionally my managers from my placement year have stayed in contact and have offered me support over the last few years.

I was never ever bored. If you want a role where you can take it easy - don't join DHL! You are given a role and expected to perform in that role - you are not a "spare". However, this being said i never felt it was more than i could handle and had a perfect work life balance. I always felt like i could ask for more work - projects and different tasks - when i wanted them and also knew that if it was too much i could speak up.

From day 1 i was introduced to the team as a manager. I was placed into a role with another manager for the first few months then given my own department. I was working alongside experienced staff and teamleaders and expected to manage them and the department. I had responsibility for Approx 75 people and had to look after the departmental needs.

During my placement year i got a feel indication into the way management and logistics worked. After the placement year was over i was able to apply my learning as case studies in my essays, exams and my dissertation. When in lessons after my year i could better envisage the situations the lectures were talking about and apply them to real life scenarios. Since the placement year i have been able to apply much of this learning into my full time role with DHL

The placement i worked in was a warehouse environment. The general mood and atmosphere of the site was a happy one. There was a good mix of long term agency and DHL collegues. Generally it was a very happy work environment with everyone getting along. Due to the fact people had worked there for many years it was almost like a family environment at times with people helping others out.

Fantastic! DHL has offered placements for many years and so they are well versed with what Placement students do and do not want from their year. There was a good mix of work, reviews and also a community project which was able to teach us about working in teams remotely. This worked to create further skills we would not get if we were purely working.

DHL is very good at giving people training - both on and off the job. While i gained a lot of functional training to complete my job i also attended well over 20 classroom based training courses. DHL is not afraid to invest time and money into its placement students - as we will likely come back into DHL later to complete further roles. I always felt like i could ask to go on additional training and never felt as though my needs were not met.

DHL is so big and varied that there are so many opportunities for people. There are opportunities in several different sectors in so many different functions. For those that want to there is even opportunities abroad as DHL is worldwide. Personally I was offered a place on the gradate scheme post industrial placement and was then offered a full time role. The job i am doing now would not have been open to me without the training and development given to me by DHL.

At my placement i was the only placement student. This meant there was little interaction with the other placement students until we were on our social project. However, there was a great social scene at the warehouse and the teams were often going out for drinks and to other events. There was also a few Managers nights out planned throughout the year.

I was in Essex which means this was generally London pricing. This meant that living and socializing was often expensive. This being said, i never found the cost of living to be more than i could afford. However, if you are the type of person to go out every weekend you may find your money doesn't stretch that far in the area.

There is a good nightlife scene where i was placed in Essex. Also as it is so close to London you could easily go into London for a night out. I found that there were a number of bars and restaurants situated within 1 mile of the site and larger clubs around 10 miles away. There are also a number of Cinemas and Bowling complex's near by.

If you wanted to get involved in more activities there is quite a few in the local area. Including Gyms, sorts clubs and also an adult college (for music and arts courses). I didn't join anything outside of work but if you look around there is a lot of things that you can do. In terms of work many of the sites have football teams or other activities you can get involved in.