HRM Intern Review

I have hugely enjoyed my placement as I have engaged in many activities. I have constantly been involved in recurrent as well as new activities relating both to my business area and cross-functionally. For example, on one hand I would report absence statistics and on the other help in the organization of events such as a MINI Plant Oxford Tour for the Hams Hall Interns.

My colleagues quickly integrated me into the team and were soon delegating me valuable and interesting tasks. They would give me tasks that were then used in meetings or kept for future reference. Hence, this made me feel that my work was useful and would support them in completing their daily tasks!

I would often have one to ones with my manager. This meant we would constantly review my progress and I would receive constructive feedback. Therefore, my development was monitored throughout the year. In addition to this, I knew I could speak to him about personal matters outside work that worried me.

It is true that the busyness of the day to day hugely varied from week to week. On one hand, we knew that as a team we would have significantly more work when preparing for performance review periods or quarterly meetings. On the other, having recurrent tasks I was responsible to complete ensured I was relatively busy the whole time.

I was given a significant amount of responsibility. Throughout the whole internship I had to deal with confidential data and, towards the second half of it, I would deputise for my colleagues at their respective first line people meetings. I believe that being given all of the above also shows that my manager and team trusted me!

I believe that I have mostly developed my soft-skills. This has been especially true in terms of confidence and resilience which will help me in future interviews and final year exams. In terms of academia, I believe that accessing online GDPR training will be significantly helpful when studying modules such as Employment Law.

Plant Hams Hall has a very friendly atmosphere. I remember that I was pleased and shocked by how quickly people would learn my name and hence made me feel quickly integrated in the business. On top of that, it is common practice for people to stop by to say hello and ask how you are. I believe that as intern joining a big company, these are the small details that make the everyday working environment very nice.

Given the nature of the job, I did not have a fixed structure of what I would be engaging with throughout the year. I would join and support the upcoming projects and tasks. For instance, at the start of my internship I got involved in a recruitment project however, once this was closed, an exchange mentoring programme had begun and I became the person responsible for the implementation of it at Hams Hall.

In terms of training, I have completed online courses and been given law updates by an employment law advisor. I believe that the firm has invested in me by inviting me to all of the HR workshops that have occurred throughout the year. In these workshops I was able to meet colleagues from other plants, learn more about the UK HR strategies and the multiple undergoing initiatives.

Given the high volume of interns they recruit as compared to the smaller number of graduate jobs available, there aren’t many full time job opportunities. However, given BMW’s global presence, I don’t disregard the idea of exploring and applying to the positions they offer in some of their offices or plants abroad.

Definitely! We are around twenty interns at Hams Hall and, as a relatively small group, this has helped us all to get to know each other. Generally, we would socialise both in and outside work. For instance, we would normally sit together for lunch and meet again in our free time. Examples include going out for dinner in the evenings or travel to other cities on the weekend.

I decided to live in Birmingham city centre which meant that the accommodation cost was slightly higher. Before I began to car share, I would buy the monthly train pass which would amount to approximately £1.35 per journey. In terms of socialising, there are a number of clubs and places in Birmingham and thus plenty of opportunities to find cheaper places to go to.

Hams Hall Plant is based in an industrial area and therefore there isn’t any nightlife around. However, most of the interns live close to the city centre which does have a very good nightlife!

There are a few nice pubs near the Plant but other than that, it is an industrial site. Nevertheless, as Birmingham’s city centre isn’t far away there some options you can find there!