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
I always enjoyed working here, easily the best job I've had to date. My co-workers were very friendly and appraochable. I learnt a lot as I was given lots of responsibility early on.
Lots of friendly banter with technicians and other engineers. Didn't feel I provided much as an engineer though, opportunities were few and far between. I always felt I was an important part of each team I worked for, and that my work was having a positive impact, and received plenty of positive feedback from colleagues.
The scheme provides plenty of support and has common figures looking after us. I had a buddy allocated to help me settle into the area & business, who is a current graduate. A discipline manager, who is a senior manager looking after your best interests and providing guidance within the project management function. Also we each had several placement point of contacts; who for me were project managers.
Plenty of work to do but not overwhelming. There are also many 'graduate' activities I am involved with, as the business has close links with the community. This means there are many community and charity projects which the business actively promotes us to manage and these also kept me busy.
Various responsibilities. I was given as much responsibility within my roles and i could hope for, and was responsible for identifying solutions to problems and defining scopes of work for projects, then carrying out activities that were needed to meet the solutions. The graduate activities also provide much responsibility, helping to build management skills and a higher level of autonomy in decision making
I learnt a lot on the Quality side of Engineering but would have preferred a broader range of work, including design and more projects. The nature of the placement has meant I have experienced working within different teams and have experienced different aspects of project management and business in general.
The Company
The environment was great which made the placement a lot better. Lots of chit chat in the office.
Generic training was very well organised, for example training on self development, presentation skills, health and safety. However there was no training given to Quality tools that I would have to use, I had to learn these as I did it. This resulted in a lot of stupid mistakes.
Again, a lot of investment when it comes to generic skills that are relevent to all roles. However I felt that as an engineer there was not much investment put my way.
Flexi Time
Sports and Social Club
Financial Bonus
Company Parties/Events
I don't see Cummins as a place I want to be. I think that the work I do would be so diluted by such a large workforce that I would find it difficult to take pride in achievements.
The Culture
I didn't fit in with the majority of students, lots of people commuted and rarely came for nights out in Darlington.
Darlington is quite a cheap place to live. In comparison to major cities in the UK. Price will depend on quality of accomodation
No student population in Darlington, the majority of people going out were 40+!
Lots of charity/voluntary work to get involved in that Cummins would help to organise and provide transport to and from.
Details
Engineering
North East
April 2013