European Supply Chain Analyst Review

Although tough at times my placement with Vauxhall has been overwhelmingly enjoyable. From both the work side and the social aspects there has always been something to enjoy. The placement has slowed down towards the end but this is to be expected as I am making my way out of the company and less long term work can be done.

One of the best things from the year is the level of responsibility you have within the organisation. What comes in hand with this is a reliance on you for your work and therefore the value they put in your work which you can feel. The office environment was also very friendly and a lot of the time felt more like a community than just colleagues.

My manager was always supportive with work and always there to help. At no point did I feel like I was struggling because of the support I had from my manager and colleagues. With guidance there was always a clear line of work with a goal at the end and while I was left to get there on my own there was always support.

My job role gave me project work which I was able to get in and do on a long term basis, although I was still able to break this up with little tasks with different challenges. The combination of this work meant I was always busy and there was always work to be done.

All the work I did had an effect on someone else. The responsibility varied from running quick and small reports to building processes which would calculate stock recommendations of multiple warehouses over Europe and very high values of stock. At no point did I feel the work I was doing was unnecessary or inconsequential.

Because of the role I had the skill I learnt were mainly IT based and based on data analytics. These skills do not relate to my course directly but the general work ethic and ability to recognise and solve problems is something that has greatly improved and will help with any part of life. Vauxhall also runs multiple training opportunities for undergrads to do outside of their work e.g. presentation training.

The office was one of the smaller ones in the company which i found beneficial. It was very personal and friendly. It was more relaxed than expected but i was still able to work efficiently without being distracted too much and being more relaxed made the work easier to cope with and more enjoyable.

The placement events were mainly organised by other undergrads in different departments which changed a lot. The organisation did not take into account us working in a different location to the training and the travel time it took out of our day causing a lot of issues in our schedule.

There was not much personal training. All of the skills picked up were from the work i did and learning by doing. There were other training opportunities outside of my job role which i did not take part in but this was mainly because of a lack of communication and information about the availability of this training.

Due to the instability of the company in its transitional stage to a new owner the prospects of coming back are small. The company is in the process of cutbacks and downsizing and since there is no graduate scheme it would be difficult to come back. Therefore it is not appealing to try.

There are a lot of undergraduates on the program in in the first two weeks of the work (handover) there are lots of events thrown to get to know the other undergrads. Because you also live with other undergrads the social life throughout the year is like the student life.

Luton itself is not very expensive to go out in with a large spoons but since London is very close with one train ride it can be more expensive if you go there a lot it can get pricey. But socialising will not cost like it did at uni with full time work.

Luton nightlife is nearly non existent. I have had good nights there because of the people I have been out with, mainly other undergrads. there are a few different pubs to go to but not many nightclubs. There is one main night club which does not to compare well to many uni cities.

There are a few activities outside that are independently organised by colleagues at work. Not many events outside of the the main holidays are organised. Vauxhall does offer csr days where you can go and help a charity for a day which is a great opportunity to do something out of the office which is fun while helping others.