Customer Support OEM Review

The placement year was a great experience for me. I was given a lot of responsibility in the department I was based in and always enjoyed coming to work. My colleagues were all very friendly and happy to help. The work given to me was always important work for the company so I felt like I was making a real difference.

From the offset my colleagues were very welcoming. They were always happy to help with any queries I had and were very good at giving me the correct training. They gave a lot of responsibility for a student and always were polite when asking me to conduct tasks for them.

At the start of my placement year, I was provided with a individual development plan. The development plan outlined all the key areas my Line Manager wanted to help me to develop based on my current weakness. We also sat down and had monthly 1-1 meetings and discussed any concerns or work desires.

During my placement year, I feel that there was never a point where I had no tasks to complete. Some days got busy with customer issues and other tasks but I was taught how to prioritise my tasks and tips to get them done. If ever I was too busy then I would speak to my manager about it to see if any support was available, but this was rare that I needed to do so.

On my placement year I was given some big responsibilities. It surprised me how much trust Cummins put in their placement students and this was a very good thing for me. Working on projects and tasks that you know have a big affect on the company's running is a very good feeling.

My personal development throughout the year has been great. I have developed many soft skills to a very good level and I am very happy with this. My time management, organisation and overall confidence have improved immensely. I feel that bringing these soft skills back to University will improve my approach to a lot of situations especially my academic study as now I will have a good approach to projects and getting things done.

The atmosphere in my office was fantastic. Everyone was very welcoming to me from day. In our office everyone was happy to help and to also work together on common goals. Even if tasks were not related to an employee they would still look for ways to help and offer any advice possible.

The placement year was sometimes not very well organised. Within my department the organisation was really good with things like my development plan. The organisation from other points could have been made clearer throughout the year and we would sometimes have to chase up on things that we should have been told about.

The company ran training modules which constituted of Time management, Presentation Skills, Conflict Management and Meeting Etiquette. These modules gave me some really good tips on how to improve these soft skills. Because these modules were ran early on in the placement year, I was then able to put them into practice and to try and perfect them.

During my placement year I managed to achieve a job with Cummins for when I go back to University. The first job is a research project that I will conducting with one of the engineers here, this will be used for my University dissertation. The second job was a Brand Ambassador programme run by the graduate recruitment team, this is when I go back to University and represent Cummins at University career fairs.

The social interaction with other students outside of work was limited to big events. Quite a few of the students lived locally with their parents so always had plans at the weekend. I regularly went for a few drinks with a couple of the other students. The big events were successful as all of the students made the effort to make it.

The cost of living was quite high compared to the area. The problem I found was finding somewhere that came furnished and therefore was limited in choice. I think a lot of landlords capitalise on this and overcharge. The cost of socialising was average, the bars were regular drinks prices and the restaurants were mainly big chain so they were standard prices.

The nightlife was standard for a town. There was limited choice for us as everywhere seemed to either cater for older people or 18 year olds. We found sometimes that local people were quite hostile and not always the friendliest but this was a small minority which is expected. There was a variety of night life spots however.

There were plenty of opportunity's provided to get involved with activities with colleagues outside of work. Every Tuesday I played for the work's 5-a-side team in a local league. Also I went Go-Karting twice with a number of my colleagues and it was good for team building and it was good to change the environment you see your colleagues in and speak to people you would not normally cross paths with in the office.