H&S Placement Student Review

My role was in Health & Safety but had a more regional focus. A lot of the tasks varied with some being large scale projects and others being quick document reviews. There would be a regular flow of work and I was allowed to work independently but help was always available. With my role being slightly different to other H&S placements, I was mostly based in the office but it did not restrict me from participating in the more hands on operations on site.

Being in this role helped me to both develop new and existing skills. For example, having existing Excel knowledge and experience was definitely useful for data analysis tasks but there were some occasions where I had to learn about new functions to achieve certain results. Other skills I noticed improving were communication and organisation. Learning to communicate in a corporate setting was certainly useful and having a very independent role meant that I was in charge of setting myself deadlines to complete tasks. Nissan also provides learning courses which you can book onto to further develop your skillset.

I was part of a large scale regional project where a lot of the time I was given certain tasks where a certain outcome was required but I was allowed to have independence in regard to how those outcomes were produced. There were some occasions where I had to directly send communications up to senior and high-level members.

As previously mentioned, I was quite independent in my role. However, when I had any questions, I never felt any pressure to ask questions. The H&S team was always helpful in answering any questions I had and would even go out of their way to find the answers if they did not know. I regularly communicated with my manager where they would ensure that I felt I was getting the most experience and knowledge out of my placement despite themselves often being busy with other tasks.

Everyone that I had interacted with was nice and easy to talk to. They certainly made me feel that I fit in within the workplace. Being a Japanese company, Nissan has some different ideologies which may feel slightly unfamiliar at first but then you start to pick up and embrace these ideas. The general atmosphere was good. It is a very busy site with lots going on constantly. Whether you are in the office or on the factory floor, there are always people and operations running.

I really enjoyed my placement at Nissan. Despite not being in a role I was originally aiming for, I still got a lot of experience and value out of my placement.

Yes

During the application phase, be confident and don't be nervous. If you're in the assessment centre, make sure that you have your say in group discussions without talking over others. But most importantly, be yourself. If the placement is secured, definitely get involved as much as you can. There may be times where you feel that things feel a bit stagnant but there is always something to do. You determine how much you get out of your placement, all you have to do is ask.