HR Resourcing Undrgraduate Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at VWFS - I had the opportunity to get involved in so many exciting projects alongside my day-to-day role. Once I had built up my network across the business I was able to learn so much more in terms of wider business knowledge and skills. Of course there were ups and downs, but overall it was a really enjoyable, valuable year.

I felt extremely valued by my team and stakeholders across the business. Even though I was inexperienced in terms of work experience, stakeholders would come to me for advice and guidance as they valued my opinion and knowledge. My team encouraged me to challenge processes in order to improve efficiency - overall my voice was heard and I feel like I made an impact in the way our team worked and that this has been valued by my colleagues.

I felt I was impacted as I didn't have the same manager throughout my placement year - each had different styles and this was interesting in terms of my learning and development. However each of my managers were extremely supportive in guiding me and enabling me to get involved in lots of different activity across the business. I felt I could talk openly to my line managers and my team, and was comfortable sharing feedback and was always given support when needed. On the other hand, I was also given lots of responsibility and the opportunity to guide others.

Extremely busy day-to-day. At the start of my placement this wasn't the case - but as I started to gain more knowledge and feel more comfortable, my work load and responsibility increased dramatically. In the interim between line manager absence I took on extra responsibility and wanted to get as much exposure as I could - therefore I was extremely busy (sometimes too busy but that was down to myself)

By the end of my placement I as taking on lots of responsibility. I feel I was putting myself forward and taking on as much as I could for my learning. My team and stakeholders were happy and confident for me to lead some of the activity and it was great for my development.

The skills learnt will help me hugely in terms of my last year at uni and future career. Doing a placement year has been the best decision in terms of putting some experience behind the knowledge gained at University - working for a year at VWFS gives you huge exposure to a professional role and environment and the knowledge, skills and experience is invaluable.

Everyone was happy and friendly, approachable and easy to talk to. Most were extremely happy to help and support where possible. We would do things together as a team, such as team breakfast or lunches at work; we had curry nights at a local restaurant, cinema nights, and organised walks around the lake. We got together to celebrate outside of work a couple of times.

For me, there were areas that could be improved. I was the first undergraduate in my role, so i think there was an element of shaping the role to begin with - it wasn't clear what the expectations would be in terms of my involvement in activity, but this meant I was able to demonstrate my strengths and then get more responsibility and exposure than the job description probably stated. There was an element of 'getting on with it' - the undergraduate population were invited to attend 'quarterly meetings' - of which only 1 happened in the first quarter. More could be done in terms of regular contact from a central placement point and regrouping everyone throughout the year - whether for a formal meeting or an informal organised event.

I was able to book onto as many training courses as I wanted to - I just spoke to my line manager about which ones I was interested in and why they would benefit me, I was involved with team training just as a permanent member of the team would be, I was never left out of anything, even if was something that wouldn't be completed in my year here I was still given the opportunity and exposure to learn different processes and skills. I also took part in Train the Trainer :)

I would like to think that there would be opportunity for me to return to VWFS after graduation - however, without a graduate scheme my only chance would be if a suitable vacancy came up at the right time and was advertised externally in order for me to see it and apply! Future employment prospects would be appealing, I'm just unsure at this stage how likely!

Yes, there were 14 undergraduates the year I was at VWFS - we arranged many activities ourselves and would go out for drinks and dinner regularly. The social scene in MK isn't as great as many University cities, but this is to be expected!

Compared to Uni and the north - MK is pretty expensive. I know this is different for everyone dependent on what you're used to. The deposit on our rented house felt unreasonable at £2800! Again, as the location is more southern and closer to London, it comes with associated prices!

As long as you have an open mind, it's not actually that bad! We had some really good nights - it's what you make of it! Just try not to compare to Uni cities! There some nice bars and things to do..

Yes there was lots of opportunities - there's a sports and social group who post on the intranet about organised events such as Amsterdam trips, Ascot races and discounted theatre tickets. There's the Teamswork/Employee Engagement groups who put on events for colleagues like a summer party. There's lots of organised charity events to get involved in such as Dragon boat racing, events at a local hospice, mentoring etc.