Paint Unit Operational Support Engineer Review

I enjoyed my time at Vauxhall very much. I am definitely happy I took a year out of studying to work and gain some experience in industry.

As the placement progressed, I felt more and more valued by my colleagues as I proved myself to them.

The maintenance team that I was a part of were very supportive when I required help or guidance on a project that I was working on. The supervisors in my office were more than willing to explain things to me that I was unsure of and were keen to better my knowledge of the manufacturing business.

The first 2/3 months were a real struggle with regards to workload - I wasn't getting anywhere near enough to keep me occupied and interested. After consulting with my manager and a manager in the HR department about my workload concerns and also the 'difficulty' of the work; I was quickly given some more interesting and taxing projects to work on. A word of advice is 'you get out of the placement what you put into it', so if you want to learn a lot or know how something works - ask.

As this job role is very 'project based' the responsibility you are given is a great amount for someone who wants to develop interpersonal skills, technical knowledge and problem solving skills. Whereas I did have a few day-to-day jobs to carry out each week; each project I was working on was my own project and solely my responsibility. I have been responsible for installations into the paint unit, problem solving for quality issues, data analysis of the throughput of the paint shop and representing the paint unit as the unit energy rep.

With regards to my degree, I don't see much correlation between this placement and my studies as there hasn't been much in the way of engineering whilst I've been here. On the other hand, I have definitely increased my employability skills and gained invaluable workplace skills such as; interpersonal skills, presentation skills, technical knowledge of the manufacturing industry, problem solving skills etc. The thing I will take away from my year at Vauxhall the most is the insight I have had into the manufacturing industry as it has more than helped me in deciding which career path I wan't to use my degree towards.

The atmosphere in my office is definitely the best part about this placement. As long as you can take some stick and give it back, the office is a really fun place to work and the guys in the office are a great laugh and very welcoming.

The start of the placement was incredibly well organised with a 2 week handover period with the previous undergraduate in my job role and plenty of opportunity to get to grips with my job role and meet the people I would be working with. As you get settled into the role, the structure of the placement is left upto your manager so therefore depends solely on their input rather than a structured role throughout the 20 undergraduates. As aformentioned, the first few months on my placement weren't very well done as I was left with a small amount of responsibility and work, but as the placement went on I was kept busy and enjoyed what I was doing much more.

I was given the chance to partake in a few courses throughout the year; RedX problem solving, Maximo training and confined space safety training, but with regards to technical training that would benefit me outside of the organisation there wasn't much.

The prospects for working at Vauxhall in the future seem to be quite good as in the past approximately 5/6 undergraduates per year have been kept on whilst they finish their degree. I would definitely consider a job at Vauxhall given the opportunity.

As a whole, the undergraduates at Vauxhall didn't socialise as much as previous years have, but I was lucky to be part of a good group of lads who often had social events planned. There is definitely the opportunity to be a very social group as a whole though.

Ellesmere Port is cheap but not very pleasant a place to live/socialise in but with Chester and Liverpool nearby the living possibilities are much nicer - although very expensive!

Chester and Liverpool are very good in terms of Nightlife, and with Manchester not too far away there shouldn't ever be an issue with finding a good night out.

Not really.