This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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About You
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The Company
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Everything Else
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy the insight?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued during your time at the company or firm?
- 3. How much guidance/support did you receive during the insight?
- 4. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and information you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 5. How well structured was the insight?
- 6. How was the general atmosphere during your insight?
- 7. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 8. To what extent did the insight help you to understand what it would be like to have a full time role with the company or firm?
- 9. How much did the insight help you in understanding the company culture?
- 10. How valuable was the content in helping you to decide on your future career path?
- 11. Were you paid or reimbursed adequately for this experience?
- 12. Were there opportunities for networking and meeting other employees of the company or firm?
- 13. How were the networking/ social event opportunities?
- 14. Did you find out about activities that employees can get involved in outside of work?
- 15. Would you recommend this insight to a friend?
About You
I did enjoy my placement in administration here. I found majority of my team were extremely friendly and made my placement enjoyable. I looked forward to going into work during the weeks. I found the workload was not stressful at all and it was very easy to carry out. After the placement however, I feel like I would not have a future job in administration as I sometimes did feel bored and uninspired by my work. I strongly felt every day of the week was very repetitive and I was carrying out the same work.
I felt a majority of my colleagues did value my work. One gave me chocolates for helping her over the few weeks with her admin work and towards the end of my placement many gave me thanks for helping them. I felt they were all so friendly, warm and welcoming. This was helpful and put me at ease throughout my placement especially as I thought it would be daunting at first, being my first work experience placement. My colleagues made my placement memorable. My supervisor on the other hand, I did not see much of him throughout the four weeks and in his feedback he did not seem to value my work as much, he rated me quite low and I found this unfair considering the amount of work and effort I put into everything I did there. I wish he had seen a truer representation of my abilities.
I was given more support by my colleagues rather than my supervisor. At the end of my placement we had a book the supervisor had to fill out with feedback and my supervisor gave me inadequate feedback which I did not find very helpful. I saw very little of him whilst on my placement and would have liked him to have more involvement or give me more guidance on what to do. I had recieved most of my guidance from my other colleagues on what administration tasks to do rather than my supervisor.
I felt the workload was too little and I was not given enough direction by my supervisor on the tasks I was supposed to do. There were times I felt uninspired by my work. For example my roles included emailing, printing and shredding paperwork. There were times I felt bored and feel the work required of me was not challenging enough for my abilities.
The Company
I was given very little responsiblity during my placement I felt like I was often forgotten about by my supervisor and he did not really see my true abilities or skills due to the extremely simple tasks I was asked to do. I would have preferred to have a greater sense of responsibility here. I felt unimportant within the team as I was given less challenging work to do.
I learnt communication skills, I used to lack confidence and feel this placement helped significantly in talking to new people which is a valuable skill for my degree currently (medicine). I learnt how to be more independent and use my initiative to do certain tasks when they were needed. The most important skill I developed here was being a team player, in my current degree it is highly important to be a part of a team in the hospital and to communicate effectively within one.
Although the staff were kind and friendly to talk to, there were very little staff in the room and I often felt bored and alone. The general atmosphere was quiet and mostly everyone kept to themselves perhaps as they were busy. In the mornings it would be more lively whereas towards the afternoon it would get a lot quieter and calmer.
It was honestly not well organised at all. Throughout my placement I was quite confused about what to do and when I would ask my manager he was too busy to help so a lot of the time I was left sitting doing nothing. I often had to take my own initiative to do work or ask my colleagues if they needed help.
Nothing, I felt like they did not invest in me nor were particularly interested in developing my skills. I would have preferred if my supervisor was more of a mentor but again I hardly saw him at all throughout the four weeks. I felt the impression everyone knew I was temporary and there was no need to help develop my skills or challenge me.
0,1,8,9
Everything Else
In terms of future employment prospects I feel there were not very appealing nor did the interest me. Interestingly the placement made me realise I did not want to persue a career in administration as I felt it was not suited for me. I think the job itself would be suited for another type of individual due to the flexible working hours and calmer type of working environment as opposed to a younger person.
I was the only student on my placement and the youngest person in the office so I feel there was very little of a social scene! Being the only student there I would often feel out of place and lonely. A lot of my colleagues were far older than me and the work environment was mainly quiet.
I lived at home with my parents whilst on my placement here so I did not need to worry as much about costs of living. In terms of the area itself Hounslow is great as it the highstreet was extremely close to where I worked and thus during breaks you could go shopping or eating out at restaurants. Most services in hounslow are very affordable for students.
The nightlife in hounslow is not particularly great but there is central london and the underground tube station is extremely close to the work place making it easy to travel to these areas from work. Overall for good night life you would have to travel outside of hounslow so it would possibly a good idea to get a travel card.
In terms of extra opportunities for students I had to look for them myself. I had to ask my school about advice about other types of work experience and had to go out and actively find these placements or opportunities independently. I’d say there are lots of opportunities in hounslow for young people you just have to find them yourself and see which ones suit you the best.
Details
Insight / Vacation Scheme (< 4 Weeks)
London
February 2018