Purchasing/Buyer Industrial Placement Review

This internship has been amazing, I have learned so much and my skills have progressed vastly. It has really gave me an inside view of how an actual business opperates, and gave me lots of responsibility to which I have had to prove that I am capable of undertaking.

I have been highly valued by my colleagues, they have taught me unforgettable knowledge about the real business world. I get on well with all members of staff in every department and have never had any problems when communicating with people, even on a personal level too.

I have two supervisors that have monitored my progress and they have set me tasks as well as gave me high responsibilities. They often check up on how i'm doing and arrange meetings to explain my progress. I have great confidence in my mentors and have no problems asking any questions or for help if needed.

For the first couple of months while I was settling in I did not feel so busy as I did not fully know what I was doing. Once i got comfortable within my role I was extremely busy and had to remain focus all the time. I was set tasks which needed to be completed on a weekly basis, as well as being given random emergancy jobs on the spot which I would need to complete as quickly as I could too.

I was given high repsonsiblity. I was in charge of 2 specific tasks which carried extremely high costs to the business. These were my main tasks to do on top of various other jobs, however apart from the odd check up to see how I was doing, I was fully in charge of them.

Now I have this knowledge I can use experiences that I have whitnessed in my dissertation. I have also learnt valuable life lessons dealing and communicating with various departments. This has helped my confidence and communication skills when speaking with people I do not know. This experience has been extremely valuable and I am very honoured to have been employed by Triumph Motorcycles.

The atmosphere is always very possitive. Various conversations are always happening between staff members about business issues, however It is not always formal and everyone is always enjoying themselves at the same time. It is a very well balanced atmosphere between work and pleasure.

The internship has been very well organised. Once settled in I have always had work which needs to be doing. I have been given high responsibilities, and set tasks which need to be completed. I have also had various expereinces over different scenarios which has made my knowledge much wider as dealing with very different and sometimes difficult situations.

For personal training, I have very much learnt along the way, however Triumph do offer various courses that can be attended. I personally attended an intermediate excel course as I prodominantly used this programme, but my knowledge in technical formulas was not so strong. The whole course was paid for by Triumph, and I even used a company car to travel tot he location.

My whole aim when undertaking a work placement was to work so hard, I left a good impression and would want to be re-employed after I had finished my final year (as long as I enjoyed it). I really hope this is the case, and after my degree I shall be reapplying for another job in the company if there is something suitable available.

There are various student placements across the company, however because the company is so large, I did not come into much comtact with them. In terms of colleagues, the social scene was very pleasant and we would all often talk about personal experiences outside of work with ease.

Thankfully the company was fairly close to my home, so i lived there in order to cut down on costs. Therefore for me there was practically no cost of living.

The nightlife Is okay, however I did not really go out much around the area in which the company is based. As I live in a close by town, and have done all my life, I often went out there instead.

I have been told there is a company football team, however I did not participate in this. I often went to the local pub with various colleagues after work where we would socialise and got to know eachother on a more personal level. This very much helped getting along with everyone. The department also went out for a meal together a couple times throughout the year such as at christmas.