Operation Intern Review

Good placement, chance to apply university skills and better understand the working environment. It has a lot of challenges and pushes you to enter into other avenues, I had chance to work within the purchasing department as well as operations. I had access to numerous resources, including Eaton university which helped during the year.

Working within operations you work with large groups of people, hey make you feel comfortable and part of the team. I had to work with numerous different departments, it required me to adapt my personality to suit the situation. All staff are very helpful and don't treat you like an intern but a valued member of staff.

During the beginning of the internship there was not a lot of support. It pushed me to mange my time better. I found I spent large amounts of time on my own, trying to find things to do, I soon started asking senior members of staff for projects. This allowed me to gain confidence and develop my skills in other departments.

The internship requires you to be able to manage your time well, it is a busy placement. If you are not in you must ensure all you work is covered. They give interns large amounts of responsibility. They wan to challenge you and not only they see a benefit but we enjoy the experience.

I was given a lot of responsibility. My role involved managing large teams and making decisions which could impact the companies profit. I was personally in charge of one of our main customers, brining in approx. $3 mill a year. Giving interns this responsibility allows helps us to feel important and take accountability.

This placement has helped me to be able to apply my university skills, For example, the application of a root cause analysis, how to motivate and communication with employees. Going back to education I will now be able to apply real life scenarios to my university courses. This will help to increase grade boundaries.

I was not based I an office for my operations role, I was based on the shop floor. This was a challenge as your desk is based in the middle of the factory. It offend results in constant distractions. However everyone on the shop floor as friendly and provide although not a calm working environment a fun one, as every day as different.

When I first joined I did not have defined job description, this was challenging as I couldn't prepare for my internship, I was often attached on to projects with no real structure. I learnt from this and for the next intern I have created a structure in order to give them some guidance during their first few months.

The company invest a lot of time and effort in to their staff, the set up numerous training activities. This can often take up the whole day. For interns they set up many training sessions with external companies to further develop our learning. They invest time and money into the development of their employees. Training includes, A3, Excel and presentations skills

Eaton are known for offering Graduates skills to their interns. During the internship they will try to encourage and guide you to apply for graduates and those interns that have made a very good impression will often get offered a place for when they finish university. This can be in or outside the UK

Usually work would have various nights out to celebrate birthdays, leaving parties etc. Interns would often part take in nights out and trips to mini golf, trampolining and pub trips. There is football club, they do lack some activities for other interests which is something they could encourage more. However there is always a chance to socialize.

The cost to live near work is relatively cheap, however many chose to live in the biggest city of Cardiff. The rents tend to higher and the traveling longer, however a better social life and more amenities. The internship allowed me to pay all my bills and save money each month which was the intended aim.

In Newport, the closet area to the Cwmbran site the nightlife is not the best. However Cardiff is only 10 minutes on the train and offers a great nightlife and good transport in and out of the city. It offers a lot for all different types of people. To cocktail bars, restaurant, pubs and night clubs.

I was apart of the health and wellness community this often involved setting up activities outside of work. The activities for health ad wellness tended to football and walking. Other than that the other opportunities were relatively minimum. The site could improve on this, encourage other areas such as entertainment - concerts or social gatherings.