Communications Assistant Review

I really enjoyed my placement at Vauxhall. Not only did i learn a lot that greatly benefits my degree, all of the staff were so lovely and welcoming. As there was 19 other undergraduates, it was no surprise that Vauxhall was very passionate about helping undergraduates gain as much experience as possible.

From the very beginning I was given real responsibilities with my job. I was nervous for the first couple of months as I didn't want to do any of my work wrong but over the past 10 months I have became confident with every task i complete. Throughout my placement I have felt valued by my colleagues. On a number of occasions several colleagues have let me know that they felt like I have done a good job with specific tasks.

My manager has been excellent throughout my placement. Not only did they make me feel settled in from the first week but they have been so easy to approach throughout the year if I ever needed help with something. My manager also provided me opportunities throughout the year, for example i got to help out at a film shoot at our workplace one weekend.

Some days I am busier than others. At the start of the week I would be busy writing my newsletters, getting them approved and then sent out internally to the employees. However there is times when my manager and I will have very busier weeks than usual, with visitors coming onto plant and making sure events go accordingly.

As I said, from the beginning I was given lots of responsibility which surprised me slightly as previous places I have worked as an undergraduate didn't give me much responsibility at all.

At university I study Public Relations and Digital Communications. I am the Communications Assistant at Vauxhall so a lot of my daily tasks would relate to my studies and benefit me for my final year. For example, I would write newsletters every week and I have written over 10 press releases during placement, which has highly improved my writing skills and writing techniques. This will be a great benefit for final year and my future career.

Everyone is really friendly and willing to help me if I was in need.

I feel that the placement was very well organised overall. As the company have had the undergraduate scheme for many years they are very efficient and focused.

The company take UGs just as serious as they do full time employees. Each undergraduate gets a review every quarter to make sure they still feel happy with their role and are getting everything out of the job that they hoped to.

Future employment within the organisation would definitely be something i would consider as I feel like there is many opportunities to grow within the firm.

Yes - the UGs would organise social events every month and chip in to each other's birthday presents so with 18 people chipping in, everyone ended up getting really nice gifts.

I commuted to work from Manchester so i travelled 80 miles every day. If I could do it again I would probably have moved closer to work for the year to save me money and journey time. For UGs that lived near work I think the cost was quite good.

I didn't go out much in the area I worked because I don't live close but others seemed to really enjoy the night life in Chester.

Apart from the undergraduates organising social events I didn't get many opportunities with activities outside work.