Business Placement Programme Review

Overall it was an amazing year working for Marks and Spencer. It was a great opportunity to experience the retail industry and managing people first hand. I enjoyed the amount of freedom I was given in my development and once I proved I was capable I thrived off the responsibility I was given.

This was an initial worry for me before starting at Marks. I wanted to add value to my team and be genuinely helpful. Naturally when I started I found this hard as I didn't know how the store worked or what role I could realistically take, but as I have learnt each area (I have spent time in clothing, foods and operations) I found I could always find a way to improve the store and therefore help my colleagues out. Over time this meant I built a strong relationship with my colleagues. I felt like I was equal to them, not a "intern".

This again was something I was worried about before starting my placement. I was concerned I wouldn't be given enough support and guidance. However this wasn't the case. From the start my store manager who was my line manager, arranged weekly meetings with me to make sure I had a forum where I could discuss my development and any issues I had faced. I also had a number of other contacts who were there to give support and who I could reach out to when I needed help. What I would say though is that this wasn't the case with other placement students I met, the level of support did seem to vary, however my advice is that if you need more support all you need to do is ask in the right way.

This varied a lot. At the start of each "module" (clothing, foods and operations), my days would consist of me mainly shadowing colleagues as I learnt about their role and department. This could be slightly boring at times, but was clearly essential to my development. Once I had learnt what I needed to know about each area and had a specific role that was when my days got busier and therefore more interesting. Also as its retail different periods are a lot busier than others, the obvious one is Christmas, during this time its very busy but its quieter during the summer.

This varied massively, similar to my answer regarding how busy I was, it varied depending on whether I was new to an area or not. Once I had learnt the basics of how an area ran I was lucky enough to be given responsibility, and this increased over the year. However this wasn't the same for all interns I spoke to, and I would say that if you want responsibility you have to prove that you are capable of having it, and have honest conversations with your line manager explaining when you would like more responsibility. But overall I believe you get a lot of responsibility on this placement compared to other placements I have heard about.

In regard to my degree, as I'm not studying a business or retail related degree the knowledge I've acquired won't help me, however the qualities I have gained such as further improvement of time management and self motivation, I believe will be extremely useful for my studying. Overall I feel this experience has solidified my self confidence which will be extremely beneficial when looking for jobs after university and going to interviews. I certainly have a clear understanding of my own strengths and weaknesses now and that will help when writing applications and finding a suitable job to my attributes.

For me this question is not solely about my office but about the store as a whole, as spent the majority of my time around the store rather than sat at a desk. I never had any big issues with my colleagues, naturally you are not going to always agree but we always managed to sort it out calmly. This meant that the atmosphere was never negative with my colleagues and with a number of colleagues I felt I got on particularly well with, and hope we will stay in contact with.

Initially I expected the placement to not be that well structured as I didn't have much information prior to starting work. However once I began I realised it was very well organised. I was invited to an "attachment day" prior to commencing my employment, which was a chance to visit the store and meet some of my colleagues before I started officially, this was great to help calm my nerves and ask any last minute conversation, I was also automatically enrolled on an induction course 2 weeks into my placement where I met other placement students in the same position as me, I had a number of contacts that I could use for support and I was put on lots of courses to aid my learning. The placement also has various booklets and reading materials to help you make sure you cover all you need to during your year.

I feel marks and spencer invested in me a lot. Throughout the year I went on over 15 different courses in London, with my travel expenses paid, and I was always encouraged to do anything that would help my development, from spending time in other stores to spending time in head office.

I have been told that I would be offered a position if I would want to come back after university.

There were no placement students in my store and my colleagues were a lot older than me so wouldn't be individuals I would feel comfortable socialising with outside of work. There were 3 other placement students on my region though and we met up around every other week, we would go for dinner and discuss how we were finding it, but as we all lived so far apart it was hard to socialise more regularly. But it was certainly reassuring to have other people to talk to that were in the same position.