Product Communications Assistant Review

I highly enjoyed my placement with Vauxhall within PSA Groupe. It gave me some great insights into both the PR and automotive industry.

I worked within the PR and Communications department, however I did collaborate with other departments, teams and agencies as well. My team was very supportive throughout the entire placement experience.

The communication between me and my line manager was very good. We helped each other all the time and offered constructive feedback.

As my role involved multiple responsibilities, I was fairly busy all day. Also, before a product launch or event, it would get busier than usual, but this offered me a great chance to improve my time management skills.

I was given, surprinsingly, quite a lot of responsibility. As I was involved with managing bookings for the Vauxhall press fleet and product launches as well, there were many opportunities for me to take full ownership of different tasks and complete them. In additon, when some of my colleagues or manager were on holiday, I would help them as well.

The skills and knowledge I developed during my time with Vauxhall and PSA Groupe are absolutely essential for my degree. Now, being in my final year, I can easily draw upon on my placement experience and complete most of the assignments.

As our office was very open and everyone was able to sit anywhere, it was very welcoming and productive. Depending on the day and the department I would closely work with, I could work from pretty much any corner of the office.

The overall work placement was very organised from the very beginning including the application process. During my first two weeks I had induction and hand over period in order to get more comfortable with the job.

The company invested in training and events for the placement students. As an example, we had training on public speaking and how to build our presentations.

Even though my placement finished as the pandemic started, I believe that my team and manager were satisifed with my performance and, as a results of this, I would definitely consider applying for working with PSA Groupe once I graduate.

We were fairly a large group of placement students at work, therefore we were very close. Even though we were working in different departments, we managed to get along and learn from each other's experiences.

The cost of living and socialising would reach £600-700 per month depending on the lifestyle. As my placement was based in Luton (London), it would be slightly more expensive than the North.

Nightlife in Luton as town was not too exciting, however it was very easy to travel to London (0nly 30 min on the train).

We had the chance to do volunteering activities at Luton Plant which was an amazing experience. Also, all the product launches were organised in different cities or countries.