HR Assistant Review

I completed my 12 month Industrial Placement with Computacenter within the HR department. I enjoyed the year and experience and had an amazing time. Computacenter have many undergraduate and graduate roles available throughout the year and appreciate how important experience is for students.

The team at Computacenter were welcoming, supportive and helped me to get the most out of my year. They developed a thorough induction plan and made sure I was trained in all aspects of my job role. They valued my opinions and took all my suggestions on board.

During my 12 months I rotated throughout the HR team to experience many aspects of HR. For each rotation I was assigned a buddy and a mentor. I also had regular 1-2-1s with my manager and buddy to make sure I was settling in well and experiencing a variety of tasks each day. The team were very supportive and if I had any queries they were more than happy to help.

At the beginning of my placement I picked up tasks gradually and had a good balance of learning and working. During the end of my placement I had picked up many roles in the team and tasks however I was happy to do so and the team allowed me to pick up or drop tasks depending on how busy I was at the time.

At the beginning of my placement the team eased me into a work environment and allowed me to take my time to settle in. I also had a months induction into the different roles within the team and tasks I had to pick up. After 3 months I had settled in well and was able to be involved in many tasks and projects. By the end of my placement year I was not treated or felt I was a placement student and felt like a full time employee within the team.

During my placement I was able to go on a variety of training sessions, communicate with the wider business and learn as many roles as I could. I was also able to pick up all software which will help me in my future career. Taking a placement has allowed me to see a how a HR department functions and supports the rest of the business. I feel I have a major advantage going back into my final year of University from the real life experiences I have observed.

Within the business the HR department all sat on the same floor and worked closely together. There was never a dull day at the office and a good balance between talking and working.

The placement year was created and structure before I started my year and within my first week my manager talked me through the outline of the year. I had the chance to rotate throughout the HR department and spend 1 or 2 months with each team. I was also allowed to look through the structure and let my manager know which aspects of HR I enjoyed the most and spend more time in one area. I had the freedom to be involved in many projects and team meetings and the year was organised well.

I was able to attend training workshops when needed and the wider business was happy for me to observe them and ask any questions I needed. For example I was responsible for processing all invoices. Most of the HR team did not understand how the process worked so I was able to spend time in the finance department to have more training and ask any questions I needed to.

Computacenter encourage placement students to apply for future job roles and two employees within the team were ex-placement students.

There were many student roles throughout the company however they were based at different locations therefore during my year I did not have a chance to spend much time with other placement students. However Computacenter are expanding their undergraduate and post-graduate schemes. I was fortunate enough to be involved with the recruitment process of other placement students.

The cost of living and socialising was good as the head office is based in Hertfordshire.

The night life was good in the area.

The team had regular lunches out together and organised many nights out and team building events. I was lucky enough to organise and attend a cocktail training session in London and a Christmas fun day with the whole team during my year.