Katie Taylor
Futures First Ambassador & Placement Student at Bosch UK
Choosing to do a placement is probably one of my proudest accomplishments. Having started second year unsure whether to do one or not, I am grateful that I stuck it out and persevered until I found one. Some of you may already know that the process is challenging and can be quite time consuming when you are completing assignments at the same time. However, that being said, if it wasn’t for my year in industry, I wouldn’t have the skills and knowledge that I have today.
Here I will discuss the top 3 skills I learnt while on placement and how these developed over my year in industry.
- Presentation skills
Firstly, my presentation skills before starting at Bosch weren’t necessarily bad, but I lacked the confidence, creativity and consistency that one requires. Luckily for me, my job role provided me a vast number of occasions to practice and perfect my delivery. For instance, ensuring you adapt to the needs of different audiences when you are presenting is essential, i.e., how you present to colleagues will be different to how you present to clients and suppliers.
One of my projects while at Bosch involved me teaching members of our team alongside clients on how to use a communication app, similar to Facebook. This experience taught me a great deal about how to communicate and over the course of the last year I believe my skills have flourished and I now feel more acquainted with what is expected.
- Teamwork
With regards to my ability to work with others, I have been amazed at how I have developed and deployed this skill while on placement. First of all, there have been endless occasions where I have been a constructive team member, for example I worked closely alongside several colleagues based in Denmark. We liaised and looked after the Bosch Car Service social media channels and had regular meetings to discuss the monthly social media content. We portrayed a shared desire and drive to achieve several different tasks together, demonstrating our ability to work closely and effectively despite being many miles apart.
Working with others towards a shared goal is an easily transferable skill to a large range of life experiences. Specifically, working in groups for university assignments has never been a project I have looked forward to. However, I now understand that listening to other people’s views and beliefs should be viewed as an advantage, not something to fear.
- Project Management
When considering how my project management abilities have come along, it seems crazy to me to think that before doing a placement I had never led a project of significant importance before. Also, you have to be aware that project management and leadership are two very different skills as leadership revolves around influencing and motivating compared to the control and power one has when running a project.
Having learned this, I am very grateful I got the opportunity to practice and master this crucial skill. During the year, one of my biggest projects involved me communicating with various suppliers and colleagues over how to effectively produce a new welcome box and booklet for the network. This experience allowed me to take authority in planning, executing, monitoring and controlling our team’s project to ensure it was completed on time and effectively.
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