TPS operations support executive Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at VWG Group UK. It has allowed me to develop my soft skills during my day to day job and I have been give great levels of responsibility. I am lucky enough to have been in a fantastic team where I was also encouraged to explore in other areas of the business.

During my year overall I felt very valued especially by my manager or when working on projects . I do think that it is important to remember however that people have different management styles and therefore even if you are not receiving constant appraisals that does not mean that your work is not appreciated.

My manager in specific was very supportive during my whole experience. I was encouraged to make the most of my year and focus on developing personal skills and networking as well as ensuring that I delivered on the daily working job. My team were supportive in the sense that they helped me further understand their roles which improved my knowledge.

My workload differed on a daily basis but also monthly and so on. Different job roles have different peeks during the month where the workload is heavier. My role was operational and I had a higher workload towards the end of the month. I was never bored and always took on extra work or projects where I could.

This is something that pleasantly surprised me, you always hear stories about placements and internships where you don't do much other than admin heavy roles or make tea and coffee, type up notes... But all of the placement students I know as was I, were given great amounts of responsibility, to the point sometimes I may have though I wasn't experienced enough to be making decisions that I was making.

As I have yet to return to university I cannot say how the skills that I have developed have assisted me in my studies. However I have developed much better excel skills, vocabulary, work ethic and networking which will not only help me in finishing my agree but also in my working life once I have graduated.

As the group is so large there were for sure different ambiences in each area of the business and building. For example, Audi was much more silent and stricter than for example where I was in group aftersales. The team I worked within were fun and inclusive, a great team to work with.

The only part of the placement that I could say could be improved within an organisational point of view would be planning within HR. Some communications are not sent out well enough in advance or answers are not given wen asked. I thin kthis has impacted the new undergraduates joining rather than myself.

A placement year in general is very much what you make of it and therefore even if a company provides an endless amount of training opportunities, unless you have the motivation to sign up and complete them this adds no value. Volkswagen offer a great and well balanced amount of training courses available for you to sign up to if you wish.

There is a graduate scheme which involves 3 rotations, 1 12 month placement and subsequently 2 six month ones. The roles on the scheme are designed to provide well rounded knowledge of the business and required skills. There are lots of people in the business who have been around for many years and worked their way up.

Yes, there was 37 of us on an undergraduate placement this year, so there was a good amount of people to mingle with and make friends. I also made friends with different collages from around the business, there is a graduate scheme too with people a few years older which is also nice.

Considering how close to London Milton Keynes is, the pricing of things could be much worse. It was not a cheap area to live in but neither was it extremely expensive. It was lovely to be able to get on a 30 minute train into London sometimes for the weekend.

There wasn't really much of a nightlife in Milton Keynes, I think there was 3 clubs in total. However there were lots of bars and restaurants and work is busy in the week so most activities would happen at the weekend and you could easily get into London for a great night out!

There were football teams, netball and a few more I believe which were exclusive to work. I would for sure say that these were more focused for boys, however I love dancing and found a great dance academy close to where I lived which I joined with one of the others girls I lived with.