HR Intern Review

I have really enjoyed my year with Eaton, I have been given valuable and extensive industry experience with a vast range of responsibilities throughout the year. I have been provided with support and encouragement from my manager and the intern program manager and feedback that has helped me develop over the year.

I feel extremely valued by all my colleagues. They understand that we are not just interns but are doing a real job with real responsibilities and feel comfortable in stretching our abilities so we can develop. They trust us to do this work and complete projects and appreciate all the effort we put in.

I feel that I was given all the support I needed throughout the year. Having had a handover from the previous intern and system training from a HR Analyst I was able to get a good grounding to start with. Feedback during the year then enabled me to understand any weaknesses and areas for improvement. If there was anything I needed help with there was always someone there I could ask.

Once we had a good knowledge off all the processes and how to use the systems, we were given our own responsibilities that would keep us busy throughout the year. There were some days when work load slowed down, however this was then when I would be given projects to work on, so any slow periods did not last long. There was a good balance each day, and before being given large tasks my manager would check my workload and ask if I would feel comfortable taking more on.

I was told at the assessment centre we would be given our own responsibilities and this internship was a real job, and they were definitely right. Many of my responsibilities are critical to the department and to the employees across the different sites. Working in HR means that we have an impact daily on the employees and my manager trusts us to complete tasks without errors.

The skills I have developed over my year with Eaton will stay with me for life and continue to develop and grow. I will be able to use my teambuilding, communication and prioritisation skills at university and my networking skills in future careers. All the training I have received in my department will be transferable to future organisations and help me understand their policies and procedures.

The office I worked in was smaller compared others with no manufacturing or distribution making it a lot quieter than the other offices too. However there were many big personalities that created a friendly and lively atmosphere and everyone is sociable and willing to get involved in anything outside of work too.

For my role the work placement was well planned and my responsibilities well thought out. There was a good balance between project work and daily responsibilities and I was able to get involved in many different aspects of HR. The overall work placement was well structured with training days throughout the year.

As a group of interns we had training days provided throughout the year by an external firm, these consisted of communication skills, project management skills, presentation and prioritising skills. We also had the resource of Eaton University which we could access at any time and complete e-learning courses, some specific to your function, some that covered applications and some that covered soft skills.

Once the company has invested in you as an intern and if you have performed well during the year, they will be wanting to keep you on as a grad. For their grad roles, previous interns will be the main selection pool. The graduate scheme is very appealing and you can be placed at other sites where you did not complete the internship.

At the site where I was based there were 6 other interns, some of which lived together. Most weekends would be spent with the other interns, however evenings after work could be dull. Due to the location of the site and interns deciding to live in different places, it could make meeting up difficult.

Coming from Reading where I study at university, I didn't find accommodation expensive in Cheltenham. We were able to find a good house with bills included for just over £400 each per month. However only being able to go out on Fridays and the weekend meant that drinks were more expensive, this was something I was able to cope with as there was a large selection of places to go.

Cheltenham would have been our go-to for nights out, it has a good range of bars but nightclubs are thin on the ground. Gloucester quays was ok for evening meals but again we preferred to go to Cheltenham for drinks. However it was easy to get the train to Bristol.

At my site there weren't many opportunities to get involved with activities. Other sites frequently had charity events and sports competitions but due to the size of my site we didn't have that much going on outside of work. When there were however, everyone at the site would get involved.