Internal Placement Student Review

I really enjoyed the placement experience, I was doing a proper role rather than admin for a manager. The pace of the company was fast moving and i was really able to get involved in projects and get involved in the launches of many new vehicles.

The managers really value you as they need you in their team, without you they cvan not do their jobs properly. All good work is recognised and extra effort brings further rewards, for example other opportunities like going to rally events open up for you.

I had weekly meetings with my managers that looked at my progress and gave me support and further tasks. The managers also work on the same desk pos as you and are always available to give support if you need it. I also had 4 quarterly reviews to analyse how my skills were developing.

Due to an organisational restructure I felt i was not utilised properly for the first few months. However after this difficult time for the organisation my role become really busy and the days flew by, I was not too busy as there were always other staff members who would help if your work load was getting very high.

The more that i put into the role the more responisibility i received, i eneded running an event that had agency staff working for me. I also managed affiliate schemes that the company had with other organisations such as the PGA so the level of responsibility was extremely high.

I developed manny skills such as time managemetn, organistaion and presentation skills. This was aided by an external trainer, we had 5 training sessions in the year where the company paid for a trainer to come in and help us develop our skills, these were excellent sessions and I am sure that i will take skills into the rest of my working life.

The culture is fairly relaxed, it is still a professional environment but people are keen to have a joke and chat.

Work placement was very well ogranised, including training, hr support and a buddy system. There are teams that look after you in HR and plan the whole year, it is a system that works and it is good because the company plans for 10+ placement students each year so it has developed an ongoing process for managing them.

We had 5 training sessions in the year from an external trainer, he was brilliant and very helpful. You also have HR reviews and apprasials with your managers so they can check your progress and help you improve.

They are good if you perform well, it does depend on budgets though.

We went out together a lot and also did day trips etc. Not everyone was the best of friends as personalities will always be different but the social seen was good and i have made friends for life.

Cost of Living is very cheap and the socialising is not as bad as people make out in Coventry. It is not the same as being at University though so takes time to adjust.

The nightlife was not great, there was one brilliant club and then nothing else unless you travel to Leamington or Birmingham, these places are great but taxi costs start to make the night expensive.

THere is always the opportunity to help out on events, being a car manufacturer the amount of events we attend is massive. There is also sports teams and quizzes etc held throughout the year.