X82 Undergraduate Engineer Review

Fantastic experience into the working world and in particular the manufacturing industry. I have no regrets over doing a placement with Vauxhall and everything that I have learned from training and experiences will be useful for returning to uni and using in the rest of my career.

It was difficult at first to settle as I joined a very closely bonded team as they had spent a lot of time together both socially and on the project. However I soon settled and feel that I have become an integral part of the team and both my opinions and contributions are well received.

My manager and supervisor have been very supportive towards me and given me plenty of advice along the way. They have got me involved in many different aspects of the job and haven't held me back if there was there something that I specifically wanted to get involved with. The mentoring scheme has also been great to get advice and opinions from someone in a different department, as well as having someone to go to if I have had a problem.

It varied from week to week. Most of the time I have been busy but there have been a few times where its been very quiet and I have not had much to do.

I have always felt trusted throughout the year as I have been involved with highly confidential information due to it being a launch. My main project of planning general assembly tooling requirements & installation was a great planning task & got me involved with different departments.

My "soft" skills ie presentation, communication, professionalism etc have improved dramatically over the year and are skills for life. My role has seen me working with all levels of management on a day to day basis so it has been good exposure for me. Product launches in this industry don't happen ever so often so it has been a great overall experience and I could not have asked for a better thing to take forwards onto my CV.

I worked in a very loud office with some big characters so it was a laugh and fun, however they were serious when they needed to be.

The handover period work-wise was ok but because my job role was different to my predecessors there wasn't really much to "hand over", so it was a bit confusing at the beginning as I didnt really know what my roles and responsibilities were going to be. Socially handover was good and a good chance to meet and get to know the other undergrads.

We all got excel and presentation training which are both very useful for life. Red X problem solving was a great tool to undertake training with as it is a skill that can be very useful throughout the rest of my career. Maybe a few more training courses would have been beneficial.

Graduate roles are quite rare so unless you really impress it appears it will be difficult to come back which is a shame as I probably would come back if given the chance.

I have lived at home through the year so haven't really been as involved socially as the other undergrads, however what has been done was good.

As said before I lived at home so can't really say, but from what I heard from other undergrads it seems it isn't too expensive. London and Milton Keynes aren't too far away to travel to if you want to go somewhere more interesting.

Luton itself really isn't great, however Milton Keynes, Watford and London are all close and much better nights out.

Department meals when you start, at christmas and when you leave are a good laugh and fun to get involved with. Also had a few opportunities to go to England games at Wembley. On my business trip to the Renault plant in France it was good fun to socialize with work colleagues outside of work hours.