eCommerce Digital Marketing Executive Review

I enjoyed it far more than I could have ever expected. This is partly down to the company and the team I am in, but it has been the best year of university and I haven't even been at uni! It has also given me a vast array of skills which I know will be so valuable in the future, and therefore makes the whole experience even more worthwhile.

I felt extremely valued by my team, and did not feel like a placement student but a real member of the team. I have never been treated any differently to anyone else here, or felt like my opinions and work do not count as I am just a student- I am a regular member of the team. The work I do is used by teams throughout my department which makes you feel useful and valued every day.

I was always encouraged early on to ask questions if I was not sure of something, and everyone in the team has always been so open to giving me help when needed. My manager always gave me the help and support I needed, and constantly checked my workload was OK, if there were any opportunities or skills I wanted to develop, and if I was happy at work. Knowing you have support behind you is really comforting, especially in the early stages of the placement where you are finding your feet.

Certain days of the week were routinely busier than others, which is natural as certain meetings and tasks fall on the same day each week, but there was still a good balance between having a full day and being able to get my work done. There was a lot of work to get through, but it was manageable. I never felt like I had to take work home in the evenings or weekends- everything could be achieved during the day, leading to a good work life balance.

The Partnership is a place where if you show enthusiasm and desire to gain more responsibility then you will be given it if you perform well. I was given a lot more responsibility than I thought I would, which helped me learn and improve my skills. It also opened a lot more opportunities throughout the year to get involved with more projects, which in turn, leads to more responsibility.

I do not think that the skills I have learnt this year will be particularly useful at university, but they will undoubtedly be vital in my future career and when looking for jobs. Stakeholder management, confidence, personal branding, etc are skills which will be key after I graduate, and are skills that you can only really gain through actively being in the work environment.

There were of course days where the atmosphere was quiet, with people on holiday or just wanting to focus in quiet, but mostly days were fun with a great positive working environment. There was a happy mix of jokes and laughter, with being able to knuckle down and power through work when needed. Throughout the year there were many events and days designed to get us working together as a team, such as a treasure hunt around Reading, a speed-dating event to find out what other people in the department did, and various parties - these generally made everyone work better together and created a really harmonious and creative environment which was great to work in.

I was only the second placement student in my team, and therefore the scheme wasn't as established as it is in other areas of the business. However this really gave me the opportunity to develop it how I wanted to, and shape it to my personal interests. This was the perfect mix between a structured set of objectives that were laid out for me, and the chance to create my own for the year. This was supported by four development days run by the Talent team here, which taught us new skills with the aim to help us day-to-day. These days were not totally useful, but it was good to know there was a structure for the year there and support if we needed it.

During my time at Waitrose I completed four Google qualifications and one Bing qualification during my work hours, as well as enrolling in one of the Partnerships e-learning courses for Stakeholder Management. As well as this I had access to thousands of learning resources throughout my time here, and received training on four development days with the other Placement students. It felt like they were not only investing in me because I worked there at the time, but investing in my future as well.

It felt like the aim of the scheme was to get me back into the Partnership after I had graduated, and therefore the prospects seemed quite appealing. There are a few graduate schemes which we have been exposed to throughout the year, with a session run on what the application process looks like, as well as insights from Partners currently on the grad scheme. We have also had insight into other ways into the Partnership, not just through the Grad scheme.

A few of the placement students lived together, and therefore they did a lot more as a group rather than the whole team of placement students. There were a few times in the year where we all met up for drinks or dinner, but due to there being placement students in retail schemes in John Lewis stores all across the country, it was difficult for us all to meet up. I tended to socialise within in team, where there were many great opportunities to go out for lunches, dinners, external events like a cocktail making class, staying over in the company hotels etc- the teams social life was great, and made up for the lack of Placement student events.

I lived at home during the placement, and so managed to save a lot of money which would have been spent on rent etc. The local areas are quite cheap though, and a lot of the placement students rented a local student house. The cost of going out was higher than I expected to be, but it would be easy to save money by not going to the expensive places and limiting how many times you go out for lunches and dinners with the team.

Practically non-existent. However, you do not tend to go out during the week due to work the next day, and London is so close that it is possible to go out there and therefore it is not an issue that there are no clubs in the area.

The Partnership offers so many discounts on things outside of work, and even offers Leisure Learning, where they will help fund you to take some classes and learn something new. There are often opportunities we took as a team, such as going to a Partnership takeover day of a theme park, which Waitrose organised, which were always extremely fun. There are also a variety of clubs and societies to join, which often hold events at the weekend for you to get involved with. Membership is free to there are ways to learn new things and experience things for very little cost.