Engineering Intern RD&Q Review

while the nature of the work didn't enthuse me the people i worked with and the friends i will keep made this placement great fun

As a student at Kraft I was given a lot of responsibility in the 3 main projects I had to complete, and employees also came to ask me for assistance with other projects.

while the support was there for me the management encourage students to find there own way. this gives you a much bigger sense of achievement when you reach a goal.

as i learnt to manage my time better the balance of work became more stable and i became more productive. hopefully skills that will transfer well to my university work.

other students on the placement scheme and myself took on a lot of responsibility including being completely responsible for the site's charity committee.

I learnt so much about engineering but also time management, people and communication skills and work ethic that are incredibly valuable skills to my future career.

my office was fantastic with a great mix of people from different levels of the organisation. everyone's opinion was valued on all topics and nobody minded a bit of banter

My placement started very early, pretty much straight after uni exams. this left the university a little unprepared as the lecturers were still marking as i started. Kraft was also undergoing radical change at the time due to its acquisition of cadbury and this led to change in the HR department that had some effect on the placement management but on the whole I didn't notice the stuff in the background as i just concentrated on the work.

Kraft runs its own program to develop students skills on top of the day to day work and records your progress with internal presentations at the start and end of the placement. many people working in the office were former students who had interned at Kraft and the fact that the one R&D office employs around 20 students each year shows the companies commitment to education.

while working for Kraft would be fantastic, i simply wasn't enthusiastic about food manufacture and would like to try other industries before settling into a long term job.

what can i say, regular nights out, house parties, sports and charity events, I even went on a weeks holiday with my fellow placement students after we completed our time at kraft and intend to keep in touch with many of them in the future.

socializing was surprisingly cheap including good deals on bowling and lots of pubs/bars with £1 drinks etc. but housing in the area is quiet expensive as it is not a university area (Banbury) larger houses are reserved for families with kids and so we ended up with quiet an expensive but small house between me and 2 other students at the company.

AKA, Wonderlounge, Chapel. fantastic night every time. also loads of great pubs and easy train to oxford of birmingham.

I seemed to be busy doing stuff all year round, much of it organised by the student group. but that's the advantage of having a large number of students working at the same site, you live together and spend all your free time having fun.