Retail Measurement Specialist - Customer Satisfaction and Mystery Shop Review

At Vauxhall I was given a variety of tasks to carry out but was also encouraged to 'own' my role and expand my experience outside of my department to gain insights in to other areas involved - also more specific to my course.

At Vauxhall there is a relaxed atomosphere with regards to colleagues. You know that you can have a joke at work with certain colleagues but also know what is and isn't appropriate. Everyone is really friendly and noone minds helping you out when you need it.

If you do not understand something, Managers will help. They will try and push you to your best ability, however, when needed they also leave you to come up with work in your own way or find additional work yourself.

I had the perfect balance. At times it was a bit quieter which gave the chance to look in to other areas of the business and sometimes it was really busy, which taught the importance of prioritistation and managing expecations.

I was given a lot of responsiblilty. At Vauxhall, you are given a role and people depend on you doing that role and your work. You aren't given a 'work shadow' experience. I was also working on some top level reports, which I created from scratch, for the Managing Director of Vauxhall to base decisions on.

I have learnt a vast number of skills whilst working at Vauxhall. Related, not just to my degree, but to working life and business culture in general.

At times the office can be fun, but it's a working environment so there is a good level of humor and seriousness so you can work without interruptions.

At the start of placement we had a two week handover perioid where the previous placement student passed over their work and showed us the role. We were also provided with training days to help us pick up skills required on placement and future career such as Excel training and presentation training.

We have been given many opportunities for training - such as presentation training. With other development areas, it has been down to yourself or your manager to push you to get real life experiences. For example, one of my weakest areas was presenting so I got involved in some training courses and carried out a training demonstration.

I would love to come back to Vauxhall to work as a Graduate as they are extremely good at pushing you to your limits and getting the best out of you.

In the first two weeks, a full social schedule is put together and arranged by HR to get you to meet all the other Placement students. Throughout the year there are numerous occasions to get involved in social activities such as fundraising events, PR events, social evenings withing departments, social activities with the other placement students.

There are a few clubs in Luton, however the surrouding towns have brilliant nightlife and it's only 30min to London on the train.