Assembly Intern Review

Really enjoyed the working enviroment and the team I worked with were very supportive and friendly, however vague job descriptions is dissapointing as you get tasked with admin jobs that do not help you learn or progress, which is the reason I wanted to go on a placement in the first place. Overall, I have learned a lot working in such a large organisatio, but I feel there was a lot of lost potential for my developement due to the low value work being assigned.

Majority of the working team were very friendly, supportive and understanding. I feel that the team had adopted me into the business at a very good pace which did not make me feel overwhelmed at all. Majority of the colleagues did not mind explaining any topics in detail for my undestanding and also allowed me to shadow them if I wanted to gain an understanding of how they perform their daily business.

I did not get enough contact hours with my supervisor, which is suprising for me as it made me feel undervalued by my supervisor. As a result of the lack of time together I rarely had any direct coaching or support from them. I feel that the majorirty of the coaching and knowedge I gained was from the colleagues around me and how they dealt with issues as they arose and not from my supervisor.

At first I was not busy at all, I only had some daily and montly admin tasks to complete and this is mainly due to lack of knowledge of what the job description entitles and what is it that I should be doing. After some time though I proactively managed to get involved in more projects with colleagues and essentially finding interesting tasks to take repsonsibility for. I feel that in this placement that the actual required tasks are very little and the rest you have to pursue on your own.

Very little responsiblity was assigned to me during my placement, however I feel this heavily relies on your supervisor and how invested he is in your developement throughout your placement. I had to always try to get involved in new tasks and projects, even workin on tasks outside my department.

I rarely had any direct tasks or work relating to my degree and the placement did not involve getting involved in massive problem solving topics. On the other hand, the working enviroment and interpersonal skills gained will massively help me progress in my future careers. Having worked in such a large organisation I feel confident on how to communicate and effectively work with colleagues, managers and with other organisations i.e. suppliers.

Really active and alive, which is something I really enjoyed. My office colleagues were also very friendly and were always discussing projects and tasks in a constructive manner, so I never felt bored being around them. The office is surrounded by cars being built as it was located in the shop floor with see through glass that makes it very enjoyable to view.

It was not well organised. The first day was very reliant on the intern you are taking over with and how well he introduces you to business. I felt like a standardisd Intro/First day was required. Also one to ones with supervisor was not very well organised or structured and no overall tasks or goals set at the begining of placement which would have been very benefical.

I have had no training from the company. Even language class was avaliabl for all employees and not placement students, which was really frustrating. No keen interest that the company is aiming to invest effort, time or money in their placement students to offer jobs. I had hoped for a lot more to be invested especially from such a prestigous company.

I would love to work for a large company with diverse office locations and departments, however I am not particaulary interested to work in my current department as I do not feel it offers career progression that aligns with my career goals and objectives. The indusry itself I found was very interesting and changing which I really liked and I am glad I went on this placement to confirm my interests in such field.

Yes placement students have an organised social media group and organise weekly and biweekly social events and sports activities. However, this is primarly done by the placement students themselves with no or very little support from the organisation. So I believe it will heavily depend on the placement students present at the time.

Oxford was very expensive compared to other placement cities, however it was a really nice city to live in and very close to london so it was worth it and I enjoyed my stay there regardless of the cost of living. Socialising costs were very similar to any other city, I did not feel that it was particulary any more expensive in any other areas apart from cost of accommodation.

Oxford had great nightlife activities that can be made however they are mainly around the city centre which is 30 minutes away from the work location, but transportation is oxford was very easy, especially if you ride a bicycle.

The university of Oxford runs a lot of events and talks which I found are very useful and enjoyable to get invovled in. There is also lots of educational courses to join. The company runs also has an on-site gym that is avaliable to use any time at a subsidisied memerbship fee. The company runs some events that are open for public to join and are usually free.