Supply-Opperations Review

The placement was an amazing experience. I got the opportunity to take ownership of my own project, experience the culture of the company and get to know some great people. I feel that the experience really helped to develop me as an individual.

My placement was based on one of the factory sites so for me this was a mixed experience. By my team and the majority of people I had the pleasure of working with I felt I was both valued and taken seriously. However when working with people in the factory it became challenging not to just feel like 'the intern'; even so this only made the placement feel more rewarding when I was able to engage with people who were at first so what reluctant.

My line manager and management team were fantastic! At first I felt as though I'd been thrown into the deep end a little but this actually showed me that I like to work with a level of ambiguity and tackle challenges in my own way rather than being dictated to. I was very thankful for the amount of time they spent on my development and giving me feedback; I feel this has help massively.

At the start of the placement I was often out of work and felt like the days dragged on but once my project was up and running this was far from the case. Sometimes I had days where I was rushed off my feet but that was more due to my time management. The great thing about the placement was you were able to set your own work pace as long as you got the job done in the end.

One of the Mars principles is responsibility and this really shone throw during my placement. I would defiantly say if you didn't want too much responsibility during a placement you don't have to either. I took on a lot of things off my own back which I found really exciting. I was able to introduce a new way of working across the site along side other projects which of course I had a responsibility to deliver.

I felt as though I went on a journey during this placement, as cheesy as that sounds! The skills I learnt will easily transfer into helping me project manage during my final year of university as well as in my future.

Being at the factory site sometimes there wasn't that many people in the office so it could be quite quiet but I liked that as it gave you time to focus without having to have meetings or people requesting information from you.

We had a great induction week which gave us a overview of Mars as a global company. The first couple of weeks actually in my placement were a little unstructured and we were a little unsure as to the process towards the end of the placement regarding gradschemes. When we did request more clarity on this matter we did receive it and the structure was much easier to follow.

For me I had a great line manager who spent a lot of time talking to me about development and interviews. The company were keen to help us develop and offered us the opportunity to site and assessment centre for the gradscheme which I was lucky enough to get a place on.

I have been offered a place on the MMDP Graduate Scheme which I am extremely excited and pleased about!

The other interns were really lovely and Mars helped us to get in touch before the placement and was accommodating when we organised events for us to all share our experiences.

I was lucky as I live locally but the cost of travel and socialising was average, it's much cheaper than London.

Most people commuted from Nottingham and the night-life there is great! As it's a student city there are lots of places to go out as well as having great restaurants and travel links.

For me I wasn't offered any opportunities to get involved with anything outside of work from the company however there was a lot that we did as interns together.