Special Projects HR Assistant Review

I have had a great year at Vauxhall and I have had a lot of opportunities to get involved with many different training sessions that they have put on. I feel this has made me a lot more employable for the future and will be a great benefit when I go back to university that those who did not do a placement on my course will not have experienced.

My department at Griffin House have been very welcoming and I was lucky enough to visit the Plant to work in their HR department. Both departments were really helpful and have offered to support in anything that I am not confident in which has meant I have learnt a lot during my placement year. Your colleagues do rely on you to get the job done as all of the roles in HR are important.

I have regular one to one meetings with my manager and three times in the year we go through a CAP form which is a development plan that highlights your strengths and weaknesses throughout your placement. Undergraduates also have a mentor that is outside of their department that they can contact if they have any issues or need support but I have only needed to meet with mine once throughout the year.

There are peaks and troughs throughout the year but I would say the majority of the time I have been pretty busy. If you end up not having much work to do, the team are good at being able to pass you some more responsibility.

I have been given a lot of responsibility during my time at Vauxhall. In the last few months of my placement, I have taken over more responsibilities so I am experiencing another side to HR that my first role didn't give me which has been good. I have taken on full projects that I have led from start to finish which have included speaking to lawyers, attending off site seminars, presenting to the rest of the HR team etc. I have definitely learnt more about processes and how a large Company works from this experience.

I have received several trainings whilst on my placement including presentation training, Excel & safe driver training. Presentation and Excel training will definitely benefit with my final year of my degree as I am a lot more confident when presenting to larger groups of people which will help in assessments. In addition, the Excel training has made me more competent on the program which will help in my future job prospects.

The general atmosphere to the office is good and it has been great working with other undergraduates and apprentices. The team are helpful however there is a slight divide between each end of the office which can feel a little tense at times.

The open days which included ice breaker activities and finding a house were really useful to get to know the other undergraduates and find who you wanted to live with for the year. Vauxhall help with a housing pack for this so although moving seems daunting at first - they do try to help make this better. The handover period was good and there were great socials over this time to get us mingling with each other. During this time we had Director presentations, tours of the sites etc. to help us understand the company better. Throughout the placement I have also had catch up meetings with my manager and we have had the opportunity to feedback if we wanted on any aspects of the scheme which is good.

We were offered training throughout the placement which included safe driver, presentation and Excel training. This has helped develop me within my job role but also for final year of university which is good of the Company.

The company was good to work for during my placement year but they do not offer a graduate scheme, you will be offered a job if you perform well during your placement and there are spaces after you graduate. This has discouraged me from future jobs but it would be good to be offered something!

Yes, there are a big group of undergraduates as Vauxhall is such a large company so the social life has been good between the undergraduates. We regularly socialise with each other during nights out, meals, trips away etc.

The cost of living is a lot cheaper than my university as Luton is not that expensive to live in. The area is good for the airport as you are so close you can go on cheap holidays whenever you can but Luton is not the best place to live. Definitely stick to the guide that Vauxhall give to advise where to live in Luton and where not to live.

Luton is not the best place to go out but there are a few bars in the town centre that are ok. I would recommend going to St Albans, Watford or London for a night out though.

Yes, there is the opportunity to play football which is organised by the undergraduates and you can organise other sports if you wanted to. Just down the road from Vauxhall is a subsidised gym so that is always a good place to do sports after work. The activities available depends on the undergraduates though as you could get involved with a variety of things but it would need to be organised by yourselves.