Regional Supply Analyst (Supply Planning Analyst) Review

With every job there are positives and negatives, but with this one in particular, there were a lot more positive factors overall. I really enjoyed my placement for both the job role aspect and the social aspect. This is because my job role was very varied and there was always something new to work. For the social side, there are over 60 interns that work in the Swindon branch. This allows us to have a lot of social opportunities, especially with our committee roles.

On the day I started my placement I was told that I wouldn't been seen as a typical intern, but as a full time worker. This was proven immediately, when my team gave me sole control of a hub's inventory and I was managing millions of dollars worth of stock. From passing comments, it feels like I am very valued and as well as this, I value my team. I have never heard another intern in Swindon complain about their team or the departments as a whole.

When I first started my internship I was given a manager, a supervisor/coach and was also advised to find a buddy from an outside team. We would have weekly 1:1s which started to become less frequent throughout the year - when I needed less help and guidance. But the communication was outstanding and I was never afraid to go to a team member or my manager for support.

It's hard to say how busy I was on a daily basis as it completely depended on the time of the year and quarter. I can't complain at all with the work load I was given as if there was very little to be doing, then it gives you time to complete any university work that you needed to catch up on, and when you are busy, you are always offered help and support (and rewards). There was always a fair amount to do in my job as I had daily and weekly benchmarks that I had to meet without fail, so I was always pretty busy.

I feel like I was given a lot more responsibility than I initially thought I would. My team were very open to involving me in everything with different types of training and becoming a real member of the team. After 4 weeks I was given full responsibility of managing a hub on my own with $40million inventory. I was also asked to become a lead on a weekly meeting we have between the wider team and I was given the responsibility to create and present a number of presentations in front of management. So I feel like I was given a lot of responsibility.

I was given a lot of training, attended numerous networking events and got involved in voluntarily work at the same time as completing my daily roles and responsibilities during my placement. I believe I will be able to take this further into my future career as it has enhanced me as a person massively. I can now prepare and present presentation in front of large crowds, network appropriately, manage a large work load, I have outstanding organisational skills and with that I have improved my admin skills also.

The office was always very busy. I worked in the louder section of the building In the operations sector but all round the office was really friendly, chatty and very laid back. Most people are happy all the time and they have loads of communal areas where people can sit and have meetings or go on breaks such as; a very busy canteen, games room, outside terrace, gardens, and separate kitchens. They also offer Great Place To Work (GPTW) which is a little 'treat' here and there that the site wide team offer us for free to keep moral up, such as cinema tickets, a plant to keep alive, sweet stools, xmas presents/calendars and much more.

I believe the placement was set up well. I was a bit confused initially when I was applying for the job role as I was informed I didn't get the role but then went for an assessment centre for that role and another - so it wasn't too clear. But once we started we had all expenses paid immediately, we were given laptops and structure of the company on the first day, We knew exactly who our teams were and what we did and we had full classroom training for the first two weeks. After that we had meetings and training sessions for a further 3 weeks. Very well organised in my opinion.

The company treats everyone as it's full-time permanent employees. There is never discrimination if they know you are only working there for a year. We are given 'blue-badge' cards which means we can be involved in everything, we were offered full training and the opportunity to move around the intern roles if we wanted to move on from the job we were completing. Half-way through the year I decided I wanted more training on presentation skills and they offered a day of training for me.

If I was to be offered a job back as a grad, then I would absolutely take it. I know that it is difficult to find such a flexible, generous and high bonus given company to work for, with such a high moral and amazing atmosphere in the office. The opportunity for me to improve, develop and move up or around into different sectors is a very appealing factor and I would love to come back as a graduate.

We had a publishing committee; that create a by-monthly newsletter, intern hoodies, an end of year video and a yearbook. This was more of a sentimental committee as it helped. We had a Sports and Social Committee that organised events outside of work such as weekend trips away to Somerset, nights out, cinema trips, seasonal events, all handover events for the new interns, etc. And we had a Charity Committee that organised charity rounder's matches, cake sales, random raffles pub quizzes. So there was always a lot going on during the placement and because there was so many of us, we were always able to organise something.

Living in Swindon is probably one of the cheapest in the South! I paid £310 not including bills for 4 of us to live in a lovely furnished house and an amazing landlord. This is a house very close to town and a 10 minute walk to the office. Other interns paid very similar to this and also very central. Socialising is probably cheaper than most cities, but it depends on the location in Swindon and the type of place you go. There are lots of things that don't cost money such as parks. All in all - not an expensive area to live.

The nightlife is how you make it with the people you spend time with. Everyone says how bad Swindon is for it's nightlife but if you live in old town (close to intel) then it's actually really nice with both bars and clubs. There are a lot of restaurants in both old town and in the town centre. I wouldn't go out in the town centre at the weekend as it can be a little 'rough' at the weekends - but Thursday nights and Rift are always a lot of fun when you're with your friends.

There were lots of opportunities outside of work and even events that work provided. There were loads of parks, and cotsworld water park - where you can swim and run, there are a number of gyms in the area, there are often a lot of events put on such as firework night and they put on the 'Swindon Fringe', which was very popular. They also had a number of charity runs such as race for life.