Technical Support Executive Review

I very much have enjoyed my year at Samsung. Personally I would say its a great experience for anyone to be in a big global company at least once in their life to experience just how massive and wide reaching they can be - even if it is to find out that it isn't for you. The people I have met and worked with have all been lovely and kind and the culture is great if you're not suited to being in a suit talking formally all day like me.

I had colleagues that had been there many years asking for my help and assistance and I rarely felt like I was different from any other employee and in fact would bet some colleagues didn't even know I was a placement. Again everyone was nice, and welcoming from across the department.

My manager did try to support me where possible and I could see him actively trying to help but he was extremely busy due to the nature of the business and didn't always have time to assist. Upper management holds quarterly meetings but rarely spoke to me outside of this, however this isn't necessarily a bad thing as it meant they placed trust in subordinates so they didn't have too.

The nature of my role meant that I was up and down. Towards the start I felt I had no work but this was just because my previous placement was much less productive than me and it took a while to get more work. When I got in the swing sometimes I would get lots of requests and found it difficult to do my daily work but If on a particular week it happened that I got no extra requests then my daily work was insufficient.

I got a lot of responsibility at Samsung. I was nominated to go abroad twice once to Poland and once to Prague and I was trusted to product weekly reports and train out a national system. I was also invited to speak at our annual conference infront of many business partners which was a personal highlight.

The skills and training I got I believe they will help me in my future work. However there is little overlap with my uni studies (management) due to the nature of the role. What overlap there was, were optional modules which I chose because it interested me such as data analysis/ data modelling.

There are two Samsung companies in the UK, the UK office and the Europe office. I was in the UK office and it is well known that it is a more lively and excitable atmosphere than the Europe office. Everyone was friendly and always down for a catch-up and you wouldn't get scolded for going out your way for 10 mins during work to ask someone how their weekend was which was great.

The placement had a high degree of organisation in fairness. The training dates were laid out from the start and we had a first week altogether as a group with the grads so we got a group induction which was a great thing to do as you got to know the other placements and grads and Samsung contacts well. The only downside was the recruitment process - you don't get Job Descriptions till a week before the assessment centre and the assessment centre started early and the first train which left my local station at 5.30am would have got in late, and a hotel is not able to be expensed.

There were multiple training events throughout the year, the induction week was good, a cultural day about korean culture which was very interesting and we got a CV/Presentation training day towards the end which was very good however there were a couple in the middle that were not useful and were just a day of discussing about working styles which were quite forgettable but I appreciate Samsung making the effort. Within my team we also had a 'Insights' profile which was quite interesting and would recommend this getting pushed out to the whole company.

I will be re-applying to Samsung. The benefits and culture and really good and I personally am interested in the industry. I would be interested in trying a different role however although im not sure whether that means the same team or a different department as I did like where I was at. That being said it won't be the only place I apply to.

I was able to live with fellow placments which was enabled by a facebook group creation in early April which was good (although thats all that is done). Due to a cohort of about 40 placements/grads everyone did regularly (1-2 months) try to meet up but we all lived very far away which made it difficult for some. With a smaller group it was easier to meet up and smaller groups do naturally form.

High, surrey is second to London and if you don't go out in surrey you're going out in London so be prepared to pay a little bit. Housing cost around £500-£800 depending on how close to London and how many people you live with. Luckily this is why Samsung salary is above average for placements.

Guilford, woking and London were your options. First two are a bit 'meh'. Third one is a bit 'You better bring money'.

There is a yearly Christmas party which is renowned for being a good night and I will remember it for a while, and there are also sports clubs and recently they are doing other activities like quiz night which was good fun so they do try. My team all live very far away we rarely did things out of work. Its not uni don't expect an activity every night.