Engineering Support Review

Although the social side of the placement was quite good, with a good rapport and level of social interaction with my colleagues and other placement students at the plant; I found the work was often tedious and not particularly inspiring, often having to actively seek more interesting tasks so as to challenge myself. However there were some projects which I did enjoy and the freedom to work in any area of my department did allow me to gain some knowledge in other areas.

As a whole I felt that I was valued by all in my department and this was consistent throughout the plant, with only some minor exceptions. My work was seen as important and useful, I was always listened to when providing ideas and I believe my knowledge and experience was appreciated and seen to be beneficial to the department.

My manager was often very busy and so support wasn’t always available immediately, but he was always able to provide it eventually; as well as this often the guidance wasn’t very thorough however, I had the support of other colleagues who were able to advise me if I was unsure of anything.

The workload would fluctuate week to week, but I believe I was not very busy overall. Many of the tasks I would be required to undertake were similar, which did not help with the quality of work and the larger projects were few and far between. I would often be making work for myself.

I was given a moderate amount of responsibility throughout my placement, I played an essential role in the majority of the larger projects with my knowledge said to be very beneficial, but as aforementioned, they were few and far between; very few of my daily tasks held any real responsibility.

The experience I have gained in the automotive and manufacturing industry will be of great advantage to me in my future career path, along with the ability to work in a multi-national company; however I doubt much of the training and knowledge I have gained will be relevant in my future careers.

Overall the atmosphere was good in my office, there was a good rapport with the other departments and generally everyone got along. There was some inter-departmental competition which helped the social side of things and the environment was always positive.

I was surprised at how poor the set-up was in general considering they’ve been taking students on for a good amount of time. The basic structure for the placement was lacking and seemed very unorganised, as if the idea was new to the company and in particular, HR. There was no support to undertake any of the joint tasks set out for the placement students, and there was no forum for contact with students from other plants, even with the accessibility of the sister plant. If it weren’t for the students at my plant actively seeking one another, there probably would have been little contact as well.

There wasn’t much focus on personal development, and if it weren’t for my manager recommending I went to some training sessions, there would have been know training given at all. Although the sessions I did attend were specific to the plant, the principles behind them are used worldwide and therefore are of use outside the company.

In some areas of the company there is significant and good quality opportunities in the graduate and VIE schemes however these are not for all business areas and especially for those in the engineering sector the opportunities seem to be scarce. For those in other areas especially business management or HR I believe the opportunities would be very good.

Fortunately the social elements of the workplace at my plant was quite good, the placement students often ate lunch with one another and some were in contact outside of work as well; there was the ability to interact with colleagues inside and outside of my department however very little was done by the company to ‘invigorate’ and promote social relations.

I commuted from a short distance away as there is absolutely nothing in Fradley itself, Lichfield is a short distance but again there is very little going o; Birmingham is not far away and the compromise of a longer commute is definitely worth it. Cost wise the Co-operative still offers adequately priced meal deals.

Fradley doesn’t even have a Wetherspoons.

With the exception of one activity organised by HR there was nothing to get involved in outside of work, speaking to my colleagues this is consistent with the previous years as well. As part of the placement you are required to partake in an initiative which may allow you to organise some activities outside of work.