Project Management Intern Review

My placement at FedEx was insightful, challenging and an all around unforgettable experience. FedEx has provided me with multiple opportunities to amplify my experience and skills. My experience was a learning curve, comprehending new skills and knowledge, recognising my strengths and developing my weaknesses, understanding the operations of the logistics industry and the PMO, managing major projects, overcoming challenges and carrying out multiple tasks daily. I gained an invaluable amount of experience, and I am thankful to FedEx for providing me with multiple opportunities to learn and grow professionally and personally.

The team were supportive, engaging and approachable at all times throughout my placement year. I received guidance and advice from them when conducting my work and extra curricular activities. I built profound and long life relationships with my PMO team, advancing my networking profile for the future. I also connected and networking with other colleagues across the business on a national and international perspective, allowing me to grow my friendships and relationships with multiple individuals, learning about their careers and experiences.

I was always provided support from my manager on a regular basis. I had one-to-one meetings with my manager to discuss my role and career development, to further work towards enhancing my experience, knowledge and competences. This support and guidance allowed me to fulfil my experience to my best potential, understanding more about the PMO team, a working environment, different career ideas and how to conduct multiple tasks in my workload. This gave me insight into managing people for a potential future career idea.

Sometimes, especially during the COVID 19 pandemic, my workload reduced slightly. However, I was constantly busy at work which I love! I was organising and planning my multiple workload on a daily basis to ensure I met deadlines and achieved my targets set. I enjoyed always being busy and having something to do, as this motivates me to continue working hard and accomplishing higher responsibilities in the future. Time management and organisation is key to any individual handling this amount of work.

For the first half of my placement I felt I was not being given a lot of responsibility, despite asking daily. However, with a change of manager I was provided with more responsibility, increasing my work load and drive to be determined and committed to achieving my goals and the company's goals. I felt proud I was trusted to carry out some high, confidential responsibilities, especially during the integration of TNT and FedEx. This was insightful and challenging to be a part of, but I accomplished this successfully.

The skills, knowledge and experiences I obtained will help and guide me during my university experience of final year and my future career, which I am grateful for. I spent days with the drivers to augment my knowledge of the daily operations in the market and to meet customers, handling any issues or support they require, satisfying their needs and wants. Secondly, volunteering at BBC Children in Need, November 2019 was a fantastic achievement. This involved answering telephone calls, taking part in the raffles and helping to raise money during the evening. This was a great opportunity and experience the company has offered to me. I was able to enhance my network, interact with new people, building my confidence in approaching and socialising with other employees in the business; I am grateful to have participated. Moreover, experiencing the working environment of multiple functions at FedEx has broadened my ideas for career opportunities. I have developed an understanding of which areas are not suited to my ambitions and others such as finance, marketing and sales in which I would like to pursue my career. My experience with finance has allowed me to be certain that I would like to undertake thorough research and additional experience in the industry, to potentially pursue a financial related career. Leading key projects and managing people, is a skill I am intrigued and interested to further enhance and pursue in the future for my career. I am highly driven, determined, committed, organised and put 100% into everything that I do, thus, utilising these attributes would be beneficial to others and contribute to my future success.

The office environment was vibrant, friendly, lively and great to be a part of. All team members were helpful, supportive and approachable when conducting tasks and work in the office. Other colleagues I created relationships with from other departments were helpful and guided me during my experience, to further augment my skills an knowledge within the 12 month placement. The working environment was flexible and made me feel comfortable when completing my tasks and achieving targets.

The first few weeks I did not have a laptop or email, therefore making it extremely difficult to start fully on my placement, slowing the experience down. Therefore, I recommend FedEx finds a solution for this. Overall, I had an induction period which allowed me to experience key parts of the business, which were insightful and engaging to be a part of. Laptops and emails need to be set up when the student arrives in the first week to ensure they gain the most valuable experience and don't miss out.

I undertook a project management 2 day course which was helpful to gain more skills and understanding about the department and my role as a whole. This enabled me to utilise this knowledge into my job and perform well. I would recommend the company needs to do more to invest in placement students, as sometimes we carry out unnecessary jobs which makes us feels like interns, which should not be the case. The company allowed me to travel nationally which was insightful to learn more about the company.

There are multiple functions which I experienced and through my placement year this has allowed me to gain insight into he fact that I would love to undertake a career in finance. I am thankful for this placement year for allowing me to know this. Without it, this would not have been accomplished or the process would've been slower. Also, experiencing the working environment of multiple functions at FedEx has broadened my ideas for career opportunities. I have developed an understanding of which areas are not suited to my ambitions and others such as finance, marketing and sales in which I would like to pursue my career. My experience with finance has allowed me to be certain that I would like to undertake thorough research and additional experience in the industry, to potentially pursue a financial related career. Leading key projects and managing people, is a skill I am intrigued and interested to further enhance and pursue in the future for my career. I am highly driven, determined, committed, organised and put 100% into everything that I do, thus, utilising these attributes would be beneficial to others and contribute to my future success.

The social scene amongst other placement students was great. We all created long life friendships and continue to stay in touch to this day. We were all a part of the same journey and experience, therefore we shared our experience, thoughts, concerns, challenges and worries during the experience, which helped us all build strong rapports and trust together. We conducted our own social evenings to get to know each other more and build our relationships.

Socialising was none existent. The only major companies that exist in Atherstone are FedEx and Aldi. Therefore socialising amongst FedEx employees is fantastic, however, in the town, not so much. There are a few shops and pubs and a hotel within the town centre but its not a good lively or friendly area to live or be a part of. The cost of living is reasonable and not expensive for students, which is helpful so that no one is spending a lot if they decide to move there.

The nightlife was none existent in Atherstone. There are no bars or clubs for young people if you wanted to enjoy a night out. There are a few pubs but most of them are run down and not lively at all! Therefore, it is not a great location for students whatsoever, which I recommend travelling nationally to ensure you meet more people and experience different environments around the UK. Maybe reconsidering placement students base is an option.

There was a running club which was great to exercise with new people and meet others. There was a lack of social activities, which surprised me. My team did no socials which was disappointing. For me, socials are motivating and great to get to know people more and even build new relationships, therefore they need to do more of them!! I had to ensure I was participating in activities such as running, swimming and going to the gym to ensure I was staying fit and healthy.