Container Planning Placement Review

I have to say that my placement still will take until September, but so far, I am really enjoying it and I think, I made a good choice. As I am working in a car company, there is always a huge variety of tasks and I never get bored. Every day, I learn new and interesting things and also the working atmosphere is great, much more unstressed than in Germany, where I come from.

From the beginning, my colleagues always gave me the feeling to be valued and appreciated. When I have a question, they always listen to me and help me the best way they can. Besides, they always give me good instructions so I never sit in front of my tasks without knowing what to do.

Concerning the management / supervisors, I feel the same way I do about my colleagues, valued and appreciated and what is really important from my point of view, they take me as a serious part of their team. In the case of problems, I can always ask them for help and they support me and they also understand when something does not work perfectly when I do it for the first time.

The first week was great to start an internship, I had a really good balance during these days. But then, I had a little bad luck, because in my third work week, the shutdown at the BMW Group started (and took four weeks in total), and on some days during this time, I was hardly busy. But since the end of the shutdown one month ago everything is alright and my work balance is really good so far. I am sure it will continue like this!

So far, I can say that the most tasks I look after require responsibility and the ability to make decisions on my own. In fact, I had to collect some experience within the company before my responsibility was needed, but in my opinion, it is currently based on a good level.

As I have just completed almost the half of my placement, I can't say exactly to what extent my skills will have an influence on my studies and beyond. But in fact, I feel that my self-employment and responsibility skills increased which is also really important for my studies, especially for the Bachelor's thesis which I will start by the end of the year. I am sure that I can bring these skills into my everyday life as well.

As I said before, the atmosphere in the office was very positive and unstressed. From my point of view, there is a good team spirit and everyone is treated in a friendly way by the colleagues. In general, the people are really helpful and courteous, what makes the atmosphere even better and raises the joy to go to work even more.

The placement was organised perfectly. The first positive aspect to mention is the application process which took just three weeks and I was always very well informed about the application status. The second positive aspect is how the start of the internship was organised. I was given a small brochure with general information about the company and the procedure of my first day and on my first day, I received an intern guide to be informed about everything I need to know about my job and the company. In general, organisational aspects of the internship have been very positive so far, my expectations have completely been fulfilled.

I can't answer this question yet because the internship will take some more months.

For sure, I can imagine to work in this organisation in the future according to my positive experience in this regard, which supports me in my ideas about my future work life. As I am an intern from Germany, of course the priority is to work in my home country, but I would never say never to working abroad.

Indeed, I can confirm that placement students as well as colleagues care a lot about building a good relationship. Of course, like always, it takes time to know everyone better and it is not possible to build a deep social scene with every colleague, but there is nothing to complain about.

The area is known for not being the cheapest place to live and socialise, but in my opinion still absolutely acceptable.

As Oxford is a students city, nightlife is relatively active. There is especially a huge amount of bars and restaurants. Of course, the prices could be cheaper, but that's the way it is. A good aspect are the nightbuses, which guarantee it is possible to get back home also in the middle of the night without

Yes, there were many opportunities for activities outside of work, especially during the weekends. There are many nice places and cities around to visit and also many possibilities for leisure activities like e.g. cycling. Me personally, I use the company's gym sometimes after work, but I have heard that there is also a football team and some more sports groups within the students of the company.