Procurement Placement Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement in the Purchasing department as it allowed me to develop my skills and put things that I had learnt in my uni modules into practice.

As a company everyone was massively friendly, I felt extremely valued as colleagues would often ask any for my opinion/thoughts on how to solve a problem or complete a task.

I was given good support by my line manager, especially in the more challenging periods during my placement. When being asked to complete a new task I was always encouraged to ask questions if required.

I was busy almost every day, which was good as it meant that I didn't have time to get bored. Every so often I would have days where I was either too busy, or not busy enough. However, there were always tasks that I could go back to every so often, when my workload was lighter.

I was given specific projects to complete. My line manager would discuss these with me to get an update on the progress of these, and would help with any questions that I had from working on these projects.

The skills the I developed during my placement will be useful in the future as they have prepared my for full time work. I have developed my problem solving skills and also presentation skills.

The atmosphere within the office was very enjoyable to be a part of. It was much easier to work whilst being able to have both work and non-work related conversations with colleagues.

My placement was fairly well organised throughout the year, although on a few occasions I was required to help out on some tasks for other areas of the department that meant that I had less time to complete my usual tasks.

Initially all the students went on a two day initial training/induction course which focused on a number of things such as personal development and team working. There were a number of e-learning courses available that covered Microsoft Office. Towards the end of the placement we were required to give a presentation to our managers that reflect on our year and the experience that we had

When looking for a job after my final year at university if there were any jobs at Knorr-Bremse that interested me, I would definitely consider these, as I found the company a really enjoyable place to work.

As a group a number of us became close and would try and socialise at the weekends. Bath and Bristol are both fairly close and easy to get to.

The cost of living and socialising was more expensive than I had been used to, however this depends on where you decide to live.

The main nightlife was in Bath and Bristol. Both of these cities had a number of places to choose between, depending on what you were looking for.

A number of students played badminton and football with other colleagues at local facilities most weeks throughout the year. This allowed us to meet people that worked in different departments of the company, that we may not have otherwise got to know.