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
IT Placement - Really good scope of work, constantly review the workload / work plan to adjust to your interests. Allows you to pick up other work and potentially drop some work if you dislike. Gained really good experience. I assure you you will not regret applying for this placement and going through the interview process.
This may sound Cliché but treated just like a member of the team. Essentially find yourself picking up others work when they are off and filling in for them in certain meetings as well as your own workload. Essentially you are just another employee within the team. Not necessarily seen as a student once all the transition and knowledge transfer is done.
Really good scope of work, constantly review the workload / work plan to adjust to your interests. Allows you to pick up other work and potentially drop some work if you dislike. If you needed guidance on any aspect multiple employees are willing to help even when they are not in your direct reporting structure or even the same business unit / department.
Workload is something that was constantly managed and looked out so that we could assess how the daily work load was. This helped to balance workload out and make sure that everyday had a similar load. Never un-balanced, was always quite consistently busy but not over busy. I would say that i always had a task to be getting on with.
Basically treated like a normal employee. From running slight projects to 'owning' areas of work so that people knew you were the person to come too if they needed advice / knowledge on a specific area. Allowed to create a workflow that may become available to the wider business and be the owner of that process.
The things i learnt in my degree were not always applicable in the role and visa versa however, i have took a final year module that contains aspects of my role this year so that should be a good 'heads up' as to what is to come along with being able to relate it to a practical workplace example.
The Company
Within SAP, there are multiple Business Units so where i sit. I am a hosted business unit within another business units office. So there is only me and my manager that i work with so the interaction with my manager is good however the other people around me are engaged in other work and do not always work with them so it may be difficult to start conversations / get to know them.
Very well. Had a good handover / transition with the previous student and this also allowed time to settle into the role and get to know the people you are working with. Work was planned out for the year.
I have attended a few training courses but all are internal SAP; Six Sigma and Project Management. However, this training was beneficial and very suitable to my degree and where i want to go in the future. Majority of the other training around software / systems is internal and on the job.
Flexi Time
Subsidised Canteen
Sports and Social Club
Company Car
Subsidised/Company Gym
National Travel
International Travel
Financial Bonus
Company Parties/Events
Staff Sales/Staff Shop
Above 25 days holiday
Working from home
Healthcare from home
Healthcare/Dental
Quietly confident that if a job role becomes available and i am interested that they will reach out to me and encourage me to apply. However (my business unit) do not offer graduate jobs while you are still on placement. They do not guarantee a role. The jobs also pay a generous salary too!
The Culture
At first yes everyone wanted to get to know eachother then it died off. There is a high number of students and grads here but seem to be the type of person that was the issue not the quantity of them. Could of easily done more. It was also very tense at first, but that all fixed itself over the first few days.
Pretty cheap living cost that will allow you to save. However i assume that this will be based on the location that is available and where you are positioned in the business. Also, there was a trampoline park nearby that we had free access too, which was a plus for us.
Huddersfield - so the nightlife was pretty poor. Only 2 clubs really and only 1 of them is ok, the other is poor. Even the Uni students here don't think it is good. Multiple bars though for watching sports etc. However, there are a lot of 24hr restaurants close by.
There is a lot of opportunity through the sports and social club. Things such as zoo trips, holidays abroad, shows, sporting events, meals and dinner invitations. However you do need to be a member of that group to do any of those (works out at less than a £ per week)
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
East Midlands
April 2018