Human Resources Placement Student Review

I have enjoyed my HR placement. I am one of 6 placement students so there other people of a similar age and experience who I can work alongside and socialise with. I enjoyed working full time in a professional environment and learning about Cummins and the automotive market. Cummins has a good business culture with plenty of benefits which shows that the company cares a lot about employees. Darlington as a town however, does not have a very good nightlife and has hardly any student or young people which can be very boring.

I felt somewhat valued by my colleagues this was evident in the amount of work they gave me and the trust they put in me to deliver quality pieces of work. Recognition is quite poor poor from management compared to permanent staff members

My manager and I had fortnightly meetings where we would discuss my development and what training I needed. We would also have HR meetings where we would discuss the current projects we're going through giving everyone an insight into other colleagues job roles.

I always had something to do each day at work. I felt sometimes I had too much work especially during high recruitment periods. I had a steady flow of projects throughout the year.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility. I was in control of the HR systems, this included uploading all data from employees and making sure that employee working hours were correctly inputted. This was a very important task as we didn't want employees to be paid too little.

I was part of the student development programme that all placement students get to be part of. This included presentation skills. I feel there isn't enough opportunity for me to improve in foreign languages. This is something I have to take externally. The placement was a good opportunity for me to get an insight into the company.

There is a welcoming atmosphere in the workplace. This is due to the business culture of Cummins which tries to be diverse as possible, not just in nationality but also mind frames and personalities. Some people in the office however, do not see placement students as proper employees which I think is wrong. Due to this, they do not treat placement students the same as other employees.

The placement was well organised, I was given a good handover period from the last placement student. I had steady project throughout the year and plenty of time for development.

The company don't allow me to use Rosetta Stone for learning a foreign language. I had to go external and hire a tutor instead. However, they did invest in presentation skills and other systems training which have become highly valuable in my role.

I think I could have a future at Cummins, this is because I have learnt the necessary skills for a HR job or a job in a similar field of business. I think that the Cummins Emission Solutions Darlington branch has too fewer HR opportunities for me but another Cummins branch would be more suitable for me.

At Cummins Emission Solutions there aren't many placement students and not many of them liked to go out very much so things did become a bit boring. There are far more placement students at Cummins Engines close by which are more outgoing that the Cummins Emission Solutions group.

The costs in Darlington are very cheap, especially compared to the south. I have no issues with rent or with the amount spent socialising

This is perhaps the poorest part of the placement. Darlington isn't a very good town for young people as there isn't much pubs or clubs around for young people. There is a larger focus on the older generation. The only good thing about Darlington nightlife is that there is good transport links to big cities such as Durham, York and Newcastle.

We have the Community involvement team, which focuses on doing charity events. I haven't taken part in several events. Additionally, I travelled to newcastle for a lecture on investigations and HR. I would have liked to travel to another branch. I would like to have