management trainee intern Review

Working a 65 hour week as a placement student, getting paid minimum wage and having to complete university work outside of office hours made this year very difficult. Whilst i never took a placement year to make money, I certainly struggled to motivate myself at times to do exactly the same job as others in the office yet in the knowledge that i was receiving significantly less just because i was there on a placement.

My colleagues in my branch were the only reason i was able to complete my placement. In such a large corporate organisation however, there are obviously several levels of employment and those who weren't in the branch were often less than helpful/friendly. Employees who didn't work at branch level often didn't understand/appreciate how the daily operation ran and this made working conditions very difficult. Had i been placed in a different branch other than the Oxford branch i would have really struggled as it was my relationship with my immediate colleagues that made this placement bearable.

In terms of colleagues at branch level, in such a huge organisation, there is often very little that they can do without approval from a higher power. I had a fair amount of correspondence with area managers, general managers when i was having problems at work and this was unfortunately answered, more often than not, with people doing their utmost to avoid confrontation and ignoring any real problems there might be.

At the start of my placement year, the Oxford brach was the biggest day rental branch in the country with over 300 cars running out of the branch. This led to a ridiculous work load every day, including saturdays. With a company policy of ten employees to every thirty cars in the branch, the Oxford branch was understaffed by at least 5 staff. Compared to other branches in the group the oxford office was always the busiest, with no breaks or even lunch breaks taken into account during the day it was often too much.

The responsibility was really up to the individual. In the office there was often new starters as the turnover of staff was very high, which meant that there was always training to be done, which was normally left to the next newest starter. In terms of daily responsibility, it was a rental car company so from the start of the second working week you are given the responsibility of driving a range of brand new cars worth thousands of pounds. I became an out of hours agent for the company which meant being in the office on my own and dealing with customers out of office hours.

In terms of work experience, and C.V content, this is certainly a placement that will prepare you for the working environment, and give you a taste of a busy office atmosphere. I am about to start my final year so whether or not i will be able to use my experiences in my modules remains to be seen. However i am confident that when i leave university i will be in a very strong position to get any job that i am after with this specific placement on my CV. Whilst the year was certainly difficult this placement will give me the edge over others in any interviews i have after university simply due to the demanding workload and hours completed.

In general I was in the office for less than half of each day as i was out on the road either picking up customers of delivering cars. This made things very difficult as not only did i have targets to meet for Enterprise i had a large amount of work that i had to complete for my university. There was a good relationship between the staff in the branch as it was a young office.

My university set a lot of work for me to do whilst on my placement not appreciating the work load or hours spent at the branch. Due to the lack of staff in the office i didn't get a minute to do any of my university work in the office, so it all had to be completed at home in my own time. This was very difficult as i was less than motivated to complete some university work after having worked a 65 hour week.

There was compulsory training at the company for all employees, however other than that there was little that the company did with regards to personal development.

Enterprise bases its training scheme on the promotional promises that are on offer in the company.

There were no other placement students in the office, however there was a social scene amongst the staff.

Oxford is one of the most expensive places to live in the UK, however as i was at university there i didn't want to be anywhere else, as i had already organised my accommodation for the year.

Oxford nightlife is fine, but not extensive.

There were no activities outside of work other than socialising drinks.