Marketing Assistant Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my 12 month long placement at Barratt Development working under the David Wilson Homes brand. I have had the opportunity to experience every aspect of marketing from creating targeted emails, press ads, updating web content and producing e -brochures. The Barratt undergraduate course enables you to gain knowledge about the company as a whole with 6x 1 week rotations in each department. This pushed you out of your comfort zone and made you grow as a person.

Since day one my division have made me feel welcomed. We are like a little family with a mix of people of all ages, We are all willing to help each other and work hard but know how to have fun in the office as well. We all contribute to each other’s birthday, bring in lots of food on special occasions and organise stuff outside of work.

Support is available to you but i would personally say by only those who you work closely with. In terms of people higher up they are busy and don't have the time, which is understandable but if you feel you need support from someone more superior its's a shame to feel you can't approach them.

There is always something to do in the marketing department, whether it’s the little jobs like updating website content or doing the sales and marketing report for up and coming sites. Depending how busy you are also depends on how many live sites you have the current state of the housing market and how organised you are as a department.

You are given more and more responsibility as the year goes on. You will start off with smaller tasks where you will be shadowed by your manager until you feel comfortable and confident with what you are doing. Then eventually you will progress to being in charge of your own project, which is exciting and challenging.

Undergoing a year’s placement at David Wilson Homes has opened my eyes to not only the marketing environment but the working environment and how competitive it is getting a job when you finish university. So by having a year's placement it has given me invaluable experience, enhanced skills such as communication, written and commercial awareness and will make me stand out against other students applying for graduate jobs.

Great atmosphere in the office. Genuinely enjoyed going to work and that was mainly down to the people that i worked with. They play a massive part into whether you will enjoy your placement or not. Positive atmosphere throughout as it is an open-plan office everyone talks and helps each other.

Overall the work placement was organised. We had quarterly meetings where all the undergraduates would meet up to share experiences and complete group bonding activities. However i would say it lacked consistency, as not everyone completed the 6x 1 week rotations when we were told this was mandatory. So sadly some placement students missed out on gaining that extra experience.

Once completing your year long placement with the company you have the opportunity to attend an exclusive assessment centre for the graduate scheme. The assessment day is specially aimed towards the Barratt undergraduates as you don't have to complete any forms, and psychometric testing, you skip straight to the assessment. The only downside to this is that you would of thought after a year of working with the company, they would know whether or not they would want you on the graduate scheme.

Because we are all form different divisions we don't get to see as much of each other as we would like to. Although saying that when we did meet it was great fun, we would go out for a group meal, a few drinks which then usually ended up on a night out together. We have a group whatsapp as well where we would stay in contact which was solely for us placement student no managers allowed.