Junior Project Manager Review

This last year has been one of my most enjoyable, I am really going to struggle to return back to university and continuing my study. My colleagues have been fantastic to work with, I have been given many opportunities to try new things and visit interesting places. As I've moved teams a few times I have had to readjust multiple times which has been a little testing at times but I quickly get right back into the swing of things.

The Howdens community is very strong; there's always plenty to do, many parties to attend, and ample opportunity to meet new people and make friends. As I have moved teams a number of times, I often get dunked in the deep end with little to no knowledge of what I will be doing and working on next. The understanding and support from my colleagues has made all the difference making me feel welcome and appreciated.

Despite having multiple lines managers, supervisors, and mentors throughout my year, I have always been paid close attention to with immense support. I often get invited to work on new projects just so I can see what working with a particular team would be like to build my experience in different areas of business. I was even told when joining the company that they would like me to move teams throughout the year so I really get to understand what it is that I'd like to do after university.

When I was in the UX Design team, I found I had plenty to do without feeling pressured for time. The business was very understanding of how long work could take and were confident with timescales that I provided. During my first few weeks as a Junior Project Manager, however, I found I had too much spare time but this was because I had been given a small part of a project so as not to overwhelm myself. Although at the time I felt a little bored at times, I've glad that I was eased into the job role.

After first starting, I quickly made it clear I was competent and able to be responsible for a fair amount. By the end of my year, I was the project manager for an £800,000 digital project for the website which involved multiple internal teams as well as a number of external partners all working together.

Although the majority of the year I was working as a Junior PM, and my university course is in Business Management and Marketing, the skills I have developed are extremely transferable and so is my industry knowledge I have gained. I believe I'll have a strong advantage over many of my peers at university and in my career afterwards.

Like anywhere, there were stressful days such as on a major deployment for the website, but in general, everyone got along well and were a joy to be around. Howdens do well to provide for the staff, constantly flurry of free sweets and treats, lunches provided if your meetings occur during peoples usual lunch hours, and the regular outings and parties really build friendships.

It did sometimes feel like I was more or less their first placement student, though I believe they have had 4 or so do my current job role in the past few years. Despite that, everything has gone smoothly, although making sure the university was happy with the placement and that it met requirements was a little tricky.

I had been put on a couple of training programmes and taken their online training courses which I didn't find all too helpful if I'm honest. They do provide plenty of opportunity for training however I think I just need to make more of an effort in trying to be put on the training courses.

I have been offered a job since completing my placement year which is too good of an opportunity to turn down even though I was considering doing a masters degree or possibly studying abroad. The career progression opportunities and pay are really good for a person just coming out of university.

There were no other placement students in my office, however, there were still plenty of people that had a not too dissimilar age, if you were finding it difficult to connect and get along with older colleagues. I found it very easy to get involved in the social scene, especially as Howdens makes such a big effort to get everybody involved in fun activities to get to know one another.

The office is very close to Northampton town centre which like most other Midlands cities, is fairly inexpensive for both living and socialising. I often also found that when going out with colleagues, depending on who it was that joined us, you often don't need to spend anything as it gets expensed or paid on a company card.

The nightlife in Northampton is fairly poor in my opinion but I study at Nottingham, which is well known to be one of the best cities for nightlife, especially for a student. It was rare for us to "go out" in Northampton, we usually travelled all over the country for away days and conferences.

Unlike some other places I've worked at, there aren't any clubs that have been set up by individuals, so the activities are limited to the social benefits fund activities of which you can do one a year. Occasionally you get the opportunity to do something extra, for example, I was invited to a Royal Warrant holders event at Holland and Holland for a day of clay pigeon shooting.