HR Intern Review

I absolutely loved it! I have had the best year, it's not like any other job or work experience I had real responsibility and my own real projects. I felt like a proper employee not just an Intern. I couldn't recommend doing a placement year enough, especially at a company like Porsche, here you are so lucky as teams are really small you can really get the most out of your experience. 10/10 I don't want to leave!

The Porsche culture about being a family is so true, my team only had 6 people including me and I felt very valued and respected. My team trusted me to get on with my own projects there was no watching over my shoulder or constantly checking in, however when I needed support I knew I could get it. Especially during Covid where we were working from home since March my team made a real effort to stay in contact with me.

I felt fully support by both my manager and the wider team, I had regular 1 2 1's with my manager which helped me to focus on what I needed to achieve that week and it also gave me an opportunity to ask any questions I had especially at the start of my placement. During the adjustment of WFH again I was fully support by my team and senior management, Porsche definitely did everything they could to make sure we all adjusted well during a difficult change.

My main responsibility of Intern recruitment meant that I constantly had something on my plate, however naturally there were peaks in my workload during the recruitment process and assessment centres which I really enjoyed. My team were really good at making sure I was always involved in extra projects where I could be to make sure I made the most out of my year. If at any point I felt my workload was thinning out my manager would always be able to set me up with a new project due to my entire team always being so busy.

I would say I was given just the right amount of responsibility. Before starting this placement I didn't expect I would get just as much responsibility as I did, however I am so happy it turned out this way as it gave me the best experiences. As my team was slightly smaller it meant I was given a lot of my own projects which I am so thankful for as it taught me so many more skills.

I will happily say that this past year I have learnt more about HR than my past 2 years at university. I could not recommend a placement enough nothing compares to real life hands on experience. I developed all of my skills and learnt so many more skills that are specific to HR that I look forward to bringing back to my final year of my study. We were really lucky at Porsche to receive a lot of training both online and face to face.

Really friendly office and quiet working space. As I mentioned before I worked really closely with all member of my team as it was really easy to get along with everybody. It's a much smaller office than people expect which was nice as it meant you knew everybody and didn't feel lost half the time. It was always really quiet In the office which some people prefer and it was nice when you had a lot of work to do but there were plenty of spaces you could break away to if you wanted a more informal conversation.

10/10 the application process was one of the best that I completed, no online testing that weren't relevant to your role and I heard back very quickly when I was successful. The assessment centre was far more relaxed and informal than I was expecting which was ideal for an internship recruitment process, you could tell that they weren't there to make you feel nervous the team really just wanted to see what you would be like on a day to day basis. Frequent communication before starting and an Intern Facebook Group to get to know the new interns before your first day.

As an intern you receive a lot of initial training both online and face to face when you first start which was all very positive and useful, you were even invited to join optional training if you wanted to gain further development.

I would love to go back and work for Porsche in the HR department and I wouldn't change a thing. However there isn't many opportunity for junior level positions other than an Intern so unless a new role were to be created I wouldn't be able to apply for a job unless it was a HR Manager position, which if I was eligible for in the future I would definitely apply but openings for these positions are very rare.

Every year there is about 10-15 interns at Head Office which is a nice number of Interns to meet. On our very first week the Interns organised a night out to meet everyone which was a really good idea and a lot of fun, from then it was up to you to organise any other social events which we did as most interns were up for social events. Reading was only a short train journey from London which meant we could explore new areas together.

All good as Reading is also a student town.

Also fine but I would recommend going to London from Paddington for a bit of a change.

One of my projects during my placement was to set up a bootcamp as part of the Health and Well Being Launch after work so this is an example of an activity you could get involved in which many interns did and it was a lot of fun. Every Intern group also get set a Charity project so we worked as an intern cohort to raise money for a local charity, this was a great scheme as not only did we all get to work together we got to raise money for an amazing cause. Fund-raising for this was both in and outside of work.