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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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I was always given challenging and interesting project work, working alongside and with some senior employees within Supply Chain. Everyone was really helpful and friendly from Day 1, making me settle comfortably into the working environment.
Many of the tasks I worked on in the many different projects were significant contributions and not just menial admin work, so I did feel well-used and thought of when different work came about. I was also regularly given feedback by those I worked with, which was always really helpful as I knew where to improve and what I was doing right.
Weekly review meetings with my team leader ensured they knew how my workload was, whether I needed more work or if I had enough to go on while ensuring I had the support and help when needed. I was always presented with different options of projects and work to get involved with as my team leader always sought out different opportunities to offer to me.
Being involved in project work there were some days a lot busier than others. In the beginning while I was still settling in, I was eased in quite nicely with a small workload. As I started to get to grips with everything I was offered more work which I was always willing to take on, and picked and chose what I spent my days working on when in the middle of different projects.
After building up my knowledge and capabilities, I was offered more and more substantial pieces of work contributing to huge projects covering different areas of Supply Chain and its European business. I was entrusted with data analysis that played a large part in the direction we took in some of the projects I was involved in, but at the same time was always provided with support and guidance ensuring that I was comfortable with what I was producing and working on. Some of the work did have significant effects on large projects, I was lucky to be given such responsibility in many of the cases.
A lot of the work I was involved in included a lot of creative data analysis and the use of Microsoft Excel. For such an important tool used so commonly, I was given the training and support to eventually become very proficient with all the available features and functions. I'd also had the chance to develop my Visual Basic coding knowledge [I'd had experience of VB coding from College], as I was presented with many opportunities to utilise this skill in different reporting improvements for some of the Supply Chain managers.
The Company
The Supply Chain area could be a little quiet at times, but everyone was getting on with work and it helped me to get on with mine. It was a little noisier and chatty in the Marketing and Consumer areas, but overall everyone was extremely friendly and happy.
There wasn't a clear role for me to step into for the my placement year, it was more of a project based role dependant on what projects came available during my time here. This did however work strongly in my favour, as I was given the opportunity to get involved with some substantial and interesting projects, as well as work specifically tailored to me when the Supply Chain managers go to know me and my skills more.
There were a huge amount of online resources available to me. Whenever I needed training or support, everyone around me in my team were always more than happy to help me. There were some external training courses available but I did not opt to take these on, as the specific training I needed was always available through colleagues. Working for Kimberly-Clark, it always came across as a company that invests heavily in the employees.
Flexi Time
Subsidised Canteen
Sports and Social Club
Subsidised/Company Gym
National Travel
Company Parties/Events
Staff Sales/Staff Shop
Above 25 days holiday
Working from home
Healthcare from home
I was specifically told in my first week that the main aim for my employers is to be able to offer me a Graduate Scheme position for after University before I finish my placement. I've been told I'll be receiving my offer in my last week, coming up soon.
The Culture
I was the only Supply Chain placement student in the Kings Hill office. There were a few social events during the year, but other than that not a lot went on. I always travelled back to my parent's house every weekend to be with my friends from home. (Luckily my parents only live a couple of hours away from where I stayed during the placement year). There was another Supply Chain placement student in the Brighton office, along with more Graduates and other interns from other functions there, the Brighton office would offer significantly more social options than the Kings Hill office.
Growing up in and around London I've always been used to expensive living and socialising, so Kings Hill was no different. I went back to Surrey every weekend to my parents house so most socialising wasn't done in the area where I worked.
I would not recommend the Kings Hill area as a place to live in, I would definitely recommend the Maidstone area instead as it would definitely have been a lot more lively. Maidstone is a very short commute and comfortably suitable if working in Kings Hill. Kings Hill itself had a very "Stepford Wives" feel to it, not somewhere I'd recommend for people under 25.
There have been plenty of activities over the year. Including and office football team who compete against the other Kimberly-Clark offices in the UK. There have been many charity events for us to get involved with team-building type exercises. The Activities & Social team in the office regularly presented options for activities to get involved in outside of work.
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
South East
June 2012