HR Assistant Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement at Panasonic, I had amazing projects over the year and I wouldn't have had the same experience anywhere else. I got to be really involved with the Olympics sponsorship activities and was able to visit the Olympic Park through the company as well.

My team was my favourite part about my placement, everyone was so friendly and supportive in my department and I got on really well with all of them. Colleagues outside my department were also extremely helpful

My manager had regular one to one meetings with me and offered help and support whenever I needed it, yet completely trusted me to do my job. She always considered me in decisions and frequently asked for my opinion

I was constantly busy, often working outside of my contracted hours, but I enjoyed all of the experiences and opportunities it gave me and it never felt like a burden going into work

In all of my projects I was completely responsible, but help was offered whenever I asked for it. It's hard to imagine I would have been given the same amount of responsibility anywhere else

The training programme at Panasonic is really good, and I went on a lot of courses that not only boost my CV but have helped develop valuable skills. More importantly though are the skills I learnt day to day, which I will be able to use in the rest of my working career and will be necessary in getting a graduate job.

My department was quite small and the phones went a lot but everyone got on well and we were able to have a laugh throughout the day

For HR there were set projects and events throughout the year which centred around the recruitment of the next placement students. I also had targets to complete which were spread out through the year and there was some flexibility with these. Ad hoc projects would come up so some times were busier than others, with the year getting more challenging as it progressed. It worked well as I wouldn't have been able to start out on the same work load as I had at the end of the placmenet so it was good how it gradually developed.

We could pick training courses that we wanted as they came up, as long as they had relevance to the role or a skill we needed to develop, and did not interfere with an important event. This opportunity was open to everyone in the company, but placement students got extra training when they started, already scheduled for them, as they are often new to the working world. These form part of the student's induction schedule.

There is no graduate scheme, but if you do well in your placement managers will think of you first when an opening comes up. Some students have even had positions created for them or held open for them until they graduate, but it depends on the budget in the department.

The placement students are introduced to each other a month before they start so they can find a house together and meet each other. There are also lots of other companies that do placements around the area, sometimes socials are organised for all the companies.

This depends on what you're comparing it to - it is the South of England. Compared to where I usually go to uni, the rent was cheaper while I was on placement, but the student nights out were more expensive. However some of my housemates were used to cheaper rents, others were used to more expensive rents.

Reading Uni was close to where we lived so we could go on the student nights out, but they were more expensive that what I was used to and the weekends were pretty pricey

There was a sports centre subsidised by Panasonic and gym membership was really cheap. You could book the courts at lunchtimes for badminton or football etc, and there was a five-aside football team that some of the guys joined.