Assistant, Customer Support Review

For the first couple of months, I felt lost in my role. However, after 3 months, I started to settle in more and was able to enjoy what I was doing. The company overall and its people made me feel very welcome which really helped me enjoy my year. Overall, I have really enjoyed my year working for Renault.

My direct line manager made me feel valued and was appreciative for the work I put in. However, I felt like the time and effort that my work took to complete was not fully appreciated by the rest of team. The head of my department made it difficult for me to remain motivated and there was no thanks for the work I put in.

My direct line manager gave me a lot opportunities to improve and pushed me to do things, such as presenting, out of my comfort zone. I felt supported when I was suggesting ideas and whether he agreed or not, my opinion was valued. My manager is definitely one of the reasons why my placement year was so good.

The first half of the year, as I was getting to grips with the systems and my daily tasks, it was sometimes boring as I felt it was quite repetitive. The second half of my year, I have been very busy working on a lot of processes to tight deadlines. I have had to work a little in the evenings as meetings took up a lot of my time in the day, meaning I could not do my daily roles. The number of meetings in the future, I think, needs to be reduced to allow you to have time to progress work.

I feel like this placement has given me a lot of responsibility. I have become the go to person for the main systems I work with. I have been left to my own devices to self-learn and have been trusted to progress and work on projects by myself. This has made my contribution to the business feel worthwhile.

I have learnt a huge amount of skills, such as analysis, adaptability, presentation skills among many others. I have had the opportunity to do training that I believe can be used in my future career. Throughout this year I have matured and feel like I have more of a sense of direction for my future. Working in a customer orientated department has taught me valuable skills I feel I can apply in many areas of business, and for this I am very grateful.

When I started my placement, the atmosphere was good but not that lively. In the second half of my year, with a new director, the atmosphere was great! He promoted a good work life balance and along with hot desking the made the working atmosphere really welcoming and fun. This is one of the reasons the year has been so great.

My initial role description was not very informative. Having a handover was very helpful in getting me started for the year however my one was cut off short so I only had 5 days. We had meetings to introduce us to the business when we started which was helpful. Throughout the year though, although well supported by my manager, I feel like the interns were a little dropped by the HR department and their development was not necessarily followed.

I pushed myself to develop. I was given opportunities, however they were not extensive. If we wanted to progress it had to come from us, rather than the company pushing for our personal development. However, when we wanted, we were supported in the progress we wanted to make, which is good.

I am definitely interested in joining the graduate scheme at Renault. I think that the offer of the rotations is great to get to understand the business and also to help me figure out what area of the business I would like to work in. After our new director joining in my department and the great new atmosphere, I would like to join the department again.

All the interns got on really well and we made an effort to do social events throughout the year. Having so many interns is great and I feel really made a difference to my year. I would highly recommend joining based on the social scene. It also helps understand the other areas of the business.

The surrounding areas are fairly expensive. I paid £500 a month for my room. If you go out in London then it is expensive. However, being so close to easy tube connections has really helped with transport for me and it is also cheap. I did not have any trouble with my budgeting.

The nightlife was fun. Both Watford and Uxbridge have standard nights out that are affordable. If you want to go for a bigger night out then there are very easy connections into London, which obviously has a variety of nightlife activity. Also, the local pubs in the area are all worth going to.

Yes, our department were good at organizing team evenings out in London. I was able to go to the Emirates stadium to watch a football game. I also went to the London marathon to support the Renault Team. Some of the interns took part in a Santa Dash and also I attended a charity football team to support Renault FC. Their are different sports activities that take place, there for anyone to get involved in.