HR Administrator & Junior Business Partner Review

I loved my placement within CDS, I gained a great amount of experience at the company that has helped me throughout my university studies and my career. I enjoyed working within a smaller company where I was given a lot of responsibility within my role as well as feeling valued as I was given role instead of shadowing for a year like most placements offer. The placement was certainly not long enough as the year flew by.. time flies when you're having fun!

I felt extremely valued, my job role was embedded into the team so they truly needed me there and for me to complete my work on time. Its a face pace environment so your work is truly valued as without it can delay projects. I was given a role that enabled me to connect to other employees over Europe which made me feel extremely valued to be given such a vital role within the organisation.

I was given a lot of support throughout the organisation as well as from my team and manager. I was working with people from all over the world so I needed great connections in order for me to complete my work. Everyone is always happy to help where they can and truly value any help you can also offer them.

I was reasonably busy on my placement. I was busy with everyday duties as well as having other projects to be working on. There was never a day I was sitting staring at my computer screen or twiddling my thumbs. When projects took over it became quite a face pace environment which I loved as it gave me a challenge and made me learn new skills and gain further experience.

I was given a huge amount of responsibility on my placement. I was given the role of a UK and Ireland Learning Development Lead as well as my HR placement. This role enabled me to create my own internal website as well as working on my own projects where I created a large network over the business. As mentioned my role was an actual role the organisation would recruit externally for and therefore I was responsible for numerous projects throughout my time at the company. I also was given the role to recruit my replacement once my placement was unfortunately over.

The skills I developed whilst on placement are skills I will treasure for life. I was lucky enough to complete my dissertation with the assistance from CDS, I to collected data and recommend suggestions for the company in the future. My experiences and skills I gained at CDS are all over my CV which have enabled me to gain a position in a corporate company whilst I was still completing my final year of my degree. I would recommend a placement at CDS to anyone who wants lots of responsibility as well as wanting to developing their skills and broadening their experience.

The office environment was great! Everyone was delightful and would always greet you and see how you were getting on in the business. My team all sat together which made it easy to keep in touch with everyone easily. There were regular charity events going on in the office which brought different teams together which you wouldn't usually have much contact with. Generally the atmosphere was great to work with, a few minor conflicts which is normal in every business environment.

Very well organised, the company had been running the placement years for 2 years when I started which made it exciting for them to have someone new as well as for me starting a new job. Clear objectives were set so I knew what they wanted from me as well as what I wanted from them. Regular one to ones with my manager kept me aligned to the team targets. Clear timelines are set out in regards to recruiting and training the next intern after you.

In terms of training and development I completed a few courses whilst I was at the company. I attended many employment law seminars, manager training workshops and accessed lots of online training. I believe my real training and development was actually just doing my job in company as I was constantly learning and experiencing new things every day throughout my placement.

Unfortunately when I was working within the company no future employment prospects were available for what I wanted to do. However, because of the companies relationship with HP your experience within the company is recognised for graduate jobs at HP. I wanted to work in a larger company at the end of my degree to gain even more experience so future employment prospects wasn't something I necessarily worried about during my placement.

Due to the links with HP and the amount of undergrads they recruit the social scene was amazing! I felt like I was back in first year of university. I built a massive social network who I still keep in contact a few years on. Everyone was keen to get together and arrange trips out. Being close to Reading made it easy to find places to meet up as well as organising events such as the intern bar crawl and the summer ball.

Berkshire is generally and expensive place to live, I was lucky enough to live from home as I live around the Reading area. As you are linked with the HP undergrads you are able to rent a shared house in Reading which makes it a lot cheaper and more exciting in regards to living arrangements. Reading is a great location for shopping, bars and nightclubs as well as its 25 min train journey into London.

Reading has a great nightlife due to the university and surrounding colleges. It gives you an opportunity to meet lots of different people on a night out. There are several clubs to suit your needs and most nights are busy. Our Thursday night outs became a regular social event. There are also numerous bars for those wanting more of a chilled evening.

There were numerous activities to get involved in outside work. A great social network meant people arranging trips with one and other up to London, Manchester and Bournemouth. There were also charity events to get involved in so there were lots of opportunities to get involved as well as creating your own activities.