Procurement Industrial Placement Review

I really enjoyed the placement once I was a few months in. However, there was so much to learn it could be quite difficult to get a grasp of. Fujitsu is a really good company and being in Procurement meant that there are so many people you get to interact with across all of the various departments. This provides a really great opportunity to network for future use after the placement is finished.

I felt like real good member of the team, and being in head office exposed me to a lot of colleagues from overseas. Once I was settled and my name was known, I feel that I was really valued in my team and managed to have an impact. Also, a lot of people didn't realise I was an industrial placement student.

I worked extremely closely with my manager for the first 6 months of the placement. She was always around to answer any questions or queries that I had. Even when my manager changed roles and I started reporting to someone in a different office, I still received really great support via phone and regular trips to see him.

I found myself extremely busy. In the first few weeks I was given fairly basic tasks which didn't take a lot of time, but as my confidence and capability developed I was able to take on much bigger projects and found myself to be a lot busier. I never had to worry about having no work to do, as there was always something to be getting on with.

I was given a lot of responsibility from the very start. I was given tasks and projects to manage within the first month of working at Fujitsu, and I found that they were important tasks to be a part of. I feel like I was really trusted to manage my own workload and get involved in lots of different tasks.

I've learnt a lot during my placement year, and made me realise that just having a degree would not help me in a proper job. Being able to act in a professional manner and communicate clearly are things that you're not taught at university, so these will really help me once I go back to university, and also in my future career.

I was based in the London office which was really good due to all of the senior people I would come across. However, there were only 5 of us in the Procurement function based there which was a bit dull at times if people were away but it was nice to be able to travel around to the other sites.

I think there was no clear plan for the placement. I picked tasks up along the way but felt like I could have just been an assistant for the duration of the year. There are various IP meet ups and activities throughout the year, but the head of the IP's never checked on us to see how we were getting on or ask what kind of things we were doing.

I never attended any training courses relating to my role as I was only there for the year so there wouldn't have been any point. I did the online mandatory training which was free of charge, however some of this was quite dull. I feel that the on the job training was much more useful and really helped me understand the function and the role.

I think the company would be a really good one to work for as there are so many different areas and roles.

When I worked from the Solihull office there was a much bigger community spirit amongst the placement students. However, in London there is a really big IP and Graduate community which was good as they would have regular get togethers. As I was always in different offices it was good to be able to speak to all the different placement students and grads from across the various cohorts.

I was based in London but decided not to live there due to the prices. I was offered a day a week out of a local office closer to home. After the 6 month mark I was doing much more time in my local office and was travelling to various sites, so I found myself in London only 1-2 days a week max.

The great thing about Fujitsu is the amount of charity work that they do. Throughout the year there are various opportunities to raise money for their charity partner, which is currently Macmillan. These are mainly sporting events such as 10k runs but raising money for charity is really encouraged and looks great on a CV.