HR Coordinator Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my Placement Year at Atlas Copco. Atlas Copco has a very open and friendly culture combined with a flat hierarchy. Everyone is very friendly and approachable and open to new ideas. This made going into work enjoyable and ensured I get the support I need as well as the opportunities to develop. I feel like I learned a lot and gained a lot of useful experience which is going to help when I return to university and when looking for a job after uni.

My manager, the management team and the rest of the staff were always very helpful and kind to me. They made sure to give me credit when I did a good job and provide feedback to help me improve. During my placement, i worked with many different people and I always felt that my voice was being heard and that i was being valued.

I worked in a very busy team but nevertheless my manager and teammates were always there to support me when that was necessary. From my first day, everyone was happy to answer questions and help me out - even people outside my team. Throughout my placement, my manager made sure to ask how my workload was and if there was anything I needed help with. At times when I felt stressed, my team was very understanding and made an effort to support me.

I can't think of a day when I felt bored or like there wasn't anything to do. My placement was definitely very busy and I felt like i had a big contribution to my team. Being very busy did get challenging at certain points however my team was always there to support me. Overall, I feel I was challenged to do my best and feel that i learned a lot in the process.

During my Year In Industry, I was trusted with important responsibilities and worked on big projects that had a significant impact on the company. I was given a lot of freedom to make decisions and choose what I wanted to be involved in.

My Year In Industry definitely helped me get a better understanding of my degree. I have found that my course can sometimes be quite theoretical so seeing how it can be applied to practice has been really useful. Training definitely was heavily encouraged by my manager and the training I received often covered areas that were not covered in my course.

The head office in Hemel Hempstead has a great atmosphere. It operates under the Activity Based Working principle which means that people can sit at different desks and with different people every day. The effect of this is that people end up being very friendly and social in the office. There are also a lot of office events, like dress-down days, free cake and in some cases free breakfast every Friday!

My placement was organised. From my first day I received training from last year's Year In Industry student and then gradually learned to do more things and picked up more responsibility. My manager was always there to make sure I was doing well. At the end of my placement, there will be a leaving presentation and after work event and I will have a handover period with my successor.

Atlas Copco definitely invested in my for training and development. Right from when I started, my managers had training courses in mind for me to join and I never spotted being developed until the end of my placement. I have attended training in Employment Law, using Outlook efficiently and on several systems they are using. The highlight of my year has been travelling to Atlas Copco's global head office in Sweden to have training on a new recruitment system.

Atlas Copco has a few success stories of Year In Industry students who came back after university but I wouldn't say that happens in 100% of the cases. At the moment they don't have a graduate scheme and hiring graduates depends on the jobs they have on at the time. I would say Atlas Copco would be very keen to hire a Year In Industry back as a graduate but that would very much depend on whether there is a suitable position for them to join.

There were times when we did things outside the office, usually with the other Year In Industry students and some other colleagues. These were normally very fun and did bring us closer. However the location of the office isn't ideal for this and that made going out with colleagues from the office difficult.

To my knowledge, Hemel Hempstead is relatively cheaper than the towns around it. However it is still more expensive than other places further away from London. Housing and cost of living may seem expensive at first but there are definitely cheaper alternatives and ways to save money.

There are limited options in Hemel Hempstead itself, mostly pubs. However, Hemel Hempstead is very well connected to places like London, St. Albans and Milton Keynes where you can find a lot of interesting things to do.

People at work were very friendly and made sure to invite everyone to activities outside the office. There were also a lot of team events or office events organised by the company or the wellbeing team (for example a 5km run on an inflatable course). Even though Hemel Hempstead isn't ideal for social activities, there was always something going on and it was easy to get involved.