This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
-
The Role
-
The Company
-
The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
when i first started at enterprise i was very enthusiastic and excited to learn new things. I loved serving customers and learning how to sell our products, however i found the hours became very tedious as i was not able to arrange anything after work as i never knew what time i was going to finish, which put pressure on my personal life. Throughout my time at enterprise i found as an intern i was the first person in the office to have to take the place of a driver when short staffed. This could sometimes mean that i would be out the office for several hours at a time without serving customers or doing any office duties. Overall i am very pleased that i was able to take a placement year at enterprise as i have learned alot about real business life and the kind of areas i do and do not want to work in when i finish uni.
Working in a small office I became close to my fellow employees as I had to work with them every day and at times be in a car with them for several hours at a time. However as the job is very sales heavy i found that certain employees became very selfish and caused a rift in the branch, on occasions an employee would refuse to serve customer they knew would not buy any of the products or pull their weight if they felt it would not benefit them to do so. I had 3 managers while working at enterprise, each one was very different. My first manager was not a people person, very unapproachable and difficult to work with, all the employees struggled to deal with him and i felt as a result of this the rest of the branch became closer.
The first 3 days of starting work was at head office doing some basic training, I really enjoyed this and felt that i was a valued employee and that i was going to be looked after. During the first 3 months I used my training folder regularly in order to learn as much as possible. I did my first exam about 6 months into my placement, I was not helped prepare for this very much which was a shame as i felt I lacked confidence going into the exam. Since then I did not really look at my training folder. I went to a couple of training sessions at head office to prepare for the second exam. However back in the branch no training took place.
The branch was always very busy, at times it felt that no one had a chance to do anything other than deliver and prepare cars for customers. A busy branch always made the day go very fast, although I worked such long hours the days never really dragged as i never had the chance to sit and clock watch
For a short time in my branch i had neither branch or assistant manager, during this time i was trusted to run the day and make big decisions, i really enjoyed this as i felt that i was really helping the branch and my decisions were taken on board. When the office was fully tasked most of the time i was just given the small office tasks which i found became very mundane and uninteresting.
The Company
in general the atmosphere in the office was quite good, we all knew we were there to get the job done and tried to enjoyed ourselves even if it was not going well.
the training scheme seems to be very good, it attracts alot of students, from speaking to other students I do feel that not all have had the same experiences that i have had.
Financial Bonus
Healthcare from home
The Culture
i kept in contact with other interns that i started with to see how they were getting on by speaking to them over the phone or having a little chat when i went to collect cars from other branches.
I moved back in with my parents
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
East of England
June 2012