Process Support Team Member Review

My placement was a very mixed bag - my day to day role was quite boring, with no real day to day responsibilities to focus on. However, the opportunities for projects outside of the department were interesting and, once I managed to get involved in them, proved to be valuable experience for me. My manager encouraged me to take any opportunities that were offered to me, even if they were outside of the department.

I found that my immediate colleagues in my department were not interested in helping me with my growth or development- they instead gave me the jobs that they themselves did not want to do. As a result, I did not feel very valued by them at all. However, when working on projects outside of the department, I felt very valued by my colleagues and felt a valued member of the team.

My manager gave me support when I needed it, but he did not take the time to check up with me as often as I would have liked. I suggested that I would like monthly meetings to be put in place with him so that we could check on my progress, but he did not put anything in place on the back of this. However, his support through the personal issues I had throughout the year was very good,and he was always very approachable whenever I needed to speak to him, he just wasn't very proactive.

I wasn't very busy at all on a daily basis - my day to day role involved very little, and the only job I was 'trusted' with was getting the post. Conversely, when I was involved with jobs outside of the department I was, at times, very busy but this wasn't very often.

I had very little responsibility around the department, apart from on one small project that I was given towards the end of my placement. On the larger projects that I had, I still took a more backseat role in everything that I did, but I was given responsibilities for conferring with other departments around site, and external suppliers.

In terms of technical skills, the placement taught me very little about engineering. However, it taught me a lot about how a manufacturing facility works in its day to day operation, and how the factory is kept running. It also taught me a lot about working life and how to interact with people in the working world, and how to ensure that the goals you want achieved are achieved.

The general atmosphere in my office was mixed. There were a few people in there that made it their aim to be as unhelpful as possible, but other people counterbalanced that by being superbly friendly. There could, at times, be a negative atmosphere in the office, and when there was you wouldn't want to be in there.

The placement was not very well organised. I didn't have a project for me to do coming into the department, and as such was left to my own devices. My manager didn't seem to want to give me any substantial work to do, even though I asked him multiple times. It was then left to me to try and drum up work through the site placement lead.

The company let us go on two site visits throughout the year, and we got the opportunity to participate in a number of different STEM events for the company. This let us see more of the company than what was simply limited to our site. I was encouraged by my manager to take any opportunity offered to me, and the departmental operations manager was happy to cover all of my travel expenses if the need arose.

The graduate scheme for the organisation is extremely appealing, offering multiple rotations in different areas of the business (depending on your chosen strand). Additionally, you can also enter the business as a direct entry graduate, and the graduates I interacted with during my time at the business seemed to be enjoying their experience.

My experience of the social scene was limited due to how far away I lived from the rest of site (my commute was 45-50 minutes each way). However, that didn't stop us being a close knit group. We would aim to have a placement student meal once every few months, and close friendships formed between us all over the course of the year. We also had monthly IP meetings to discuss our feelings about how our placements were going

Given that the site was located in the north of England, this meant that the cost of living was extremely cheap. There are plenty of cheap pubs and restaurants in the town the site is located in, and the cost of rented accommodation is very competitive. The local supermarket was also very reasonably priced.

The nightlife in the area I worked in was quiet, given that it was a small market town with no real bars or clubs. However, it's about 20 minutes away from a medium sized town with 1 or 2 clubs in it and several bars.There was one bar that was open until 1-1.30 in the morning, but that's it.

There were opportunities to watch the sports or do exercise classes in the Sports and Social club on site, and a pilates class was organised 2 days a week during people's lunch times. Additionally, although these opportunities were not organised by the company, emails would go around once every couple of weeks for a retirement/leaving/birthday celebration that everyone on site would be invited to.