I am very happy with the choice that I made! I can say that looking back at how I was at the beginning and at the end of my placement, now I am a very different person – in a very good way! I have significantly improved my verbal and written communication skills which from my point of view are essential in our daily life and gained so many other skills that will help me in my future career as well as in my final year at university.
The last month of my placement was very challenging as I wrote training documents for a student who replaced me and also trained her how to do my job. This improved my communication skills and also made me realise how much I learnt from this experience! It felt good to share my knowledge with her! As my placement was coming to an end I was still not realising it… I felt like I go on holiday and I will come back after a couple of days.
Just two weeks before my contract was going to end I went for a meal with some of the senior managers. It was a nice feeling to see that I had built a friendship relationship with so many people and everyone told me to contact them any time no matter what. Moreover, we went for a leaving do during the weekend where I had the chance to say goodbye to those who didn’t make it to the meal.
Last week at work was the worst! I went to the morning management team meeting where the plant manager and my supervisor held a speech about my progress and I was also given a card where most of my colleagues wrote a message for me! I must admit that I couldn’t help but focus on that all day. I had tears in my eyes during and after the morning meeting and at the same time I felt happy to be given such a good feedback!
So here I am at the end of my placement year. I have never thought it was going to be so difficult for me to leave CSM but I don’t feel totally sad because I know I can contact anyone from there any time and I built a strong relationship with my colleagues!
My advice for everyone is – definitely go for a placement year! It will teach you more about the real side of the world besides the theory learn at university. A placement will help you put into practice everything that you have learnt at university!