Placement - Mechanical engineer Review

I really enjoyed my placement year, i was allowed to act like a full employee from my first day whilst still getting the help and support that i needed from my colleagues. The training that is available from the company is brilliant and is something that i feel i have really benefitted from.

I had the benefit of working within two different teams whilst employed by Cummins and I felt very much valued and respected by everyone that i have worked with. I have also been leading teams of people that are much more experienced than myself and yet feel they still listen to and value my opinions.

Both managers that i have worked with have been extremely supportive of me and have had a real genuine interest in my development as a person as well as an employee. Both managers have encouraged me to go on training sessions and also have given me valuable experience working with different departments.

I have felt that some days i have been able to have more work given to me but i do understand as well that certainly at the start of my placement there was only certain work that i would be able to do and i needed to concentrate on learning the skills that i am currently benefitting from.

I have been able to manage quite a few different projects and i was very surprised at the amount of responsibility that i have been given. To start with the sums of money that i was dealing with were very daunting but now i am a lot more comfortable with the money i am in charge of and am making decisions that carry a lot more weight.

I think that training at times has been a mixed bag, some of the online tutorials i feel i don't learn very well from and therefore i have felt i would perhaps prefer some more variants on the training methods. We also had some training set up to improve us as employable individuals and i felt that i learnt a lot from these sessions and have carried some of the training through and have an interest in books on similar topics.

Again both teams that i have worked in have been fantastic, there was a period mid way through the placement where the company was going through some difficult times and the mood obviously dropped. However immediately after everything had settled everyone pulled together and we are all having a really good time again now.

From the moment i arrived my name tag was on my desk, computer and screen set up and all i needed to do was log on and download the software that i would come to need. I also feel that the company have had more than enough placements to know what they were doing and i feel that showed.

I feel that the company have invested a lot into individual training through the year and have a genuine interest in the personal development of everyone in the placement scheme. Specialist people were brought in by the company to personally train us in how to act in business and how to develop our careers further.

I am hoping to be offered a job in the future in the team that i am currently in.

The placement team have a Facebook page as well as numerous group chats on various mediums. Often the group will lunch together also and i feel that i have quite a few different placements that i can go to for help in using a few different systems which i believe is positive.

Work was close to home so i was able to move straight back in with my parents so the only thing i needed to pay for extra was food.

It is ok around here, as all night life though it rather depends on who you are going out with. Personally i have quite a few good friends that i have met through placement and also quite a few that live round here too that i have known growing up so on a personal note it is fine, not so sure everyone else would feel the same.

I am part of a comittee for a social club at work and play football with 2 different groups. I barely have any free time now because of work and social activities that i am involved in.