Purchasing Intern Review

I really enjoyed my time working at the MINI plant in Oxford. It is a great experience, and I would reccomend it to anyone looking for a placement. I enjoyed working in Purchasing alot, the people are very nice and it is an interesting part of the company to work in.

Working in purchasing I really felt valued by my other colleagues, I think this is because as an intern you are always helping someone out, especially if they have a high workload. I think sometimes when there are more busy periods and people don't have time to show you how thankful they are all the times, you don't feel it as much but it is always there.

There is alot of support given by team leaders and managers in purchasing. If you have a question for them then they will take the time to listen and try and answer for you, they are very approachable. This is for all managment in the department, not just our own.

How busy I was did vary throughout the year. Some periods like Christmas and just before shutdown were more busy but there was enough workload to see you through the day. The amount of workload that the others in our department recieve determines how busy the iterns will be as we are helping them out, along with any other projects we have.

In purchasing you are given alot of responsibility, as we get to talk to suppliers about quotations and any issues. We are left to get on with work and then there is people for us to ask questions if we need to. There is also other projects are are always happening in the department that anyone can get involved in.

My experience at BMW is really going to help me going back to uni and even after my degree. It will help me with my final year project, because I can use my experience in my dissertation and I have learned so much here about how a business works. It has also helped me decide on a career path I would like try and get on.

There was a great atmosphere in my office. Everyone is easy to talk to and get along with. Everyone in the team was up for a laugh, which made the days go by quick and by everyone being so approachable if you had a question you didn't feel like you couldn't ask someone.

The placement was very well set up. Bascially all systems worked when I arrived, and there was a handover with the intern that worked in the team before me. everyone else also knew what needed to be done. I thought it was good that everything was set up for me before I arrived.

I think there is a good amount of time invested in interns for training. I don't see much point investing alot of time and money in training someone who will only be working there for a year. I did get to go on a communications course, to improve my skills with others working in the plant.

For me it would be great to get a job working at BMW again, as I have had a great experience working on my placement and it has helped me find a job I would love to do after I finish uni and this way I could gain more understanding of purchasing.

There was a great social scene with the other interns. There was weekly socials on a thiursday where everyone would meet up and discuss work and anything else. We would also vote each week for the location of the social. There was also a group chat on WhatsApp for people to use to communicate with eachother.

Oxford is an expensive area to live in, the prices here are on parr with London. That is the same for the socialising in Oxford, the prices of drinks and food are very expensive it can be difficult to do this on an intern wage so might need some help from family members.

The nightlife in Oxford is up and coming. Recently they have put in more bars for people to socialise. There is plenty of nightclubs too. There are alot of students in Oxford so there are some cheap student nights and one at Bridge on a Friday, which is perfect. There is also alot of great old pubs in Oxford.

there are some opportunities to get involved in activites outside of work. I think mainly you need to look for something that you are interested in and if you find someone else that is into the same thing as you then maybe you can start something but need to ask people if they are interested and what is available.