Trade Counter Demand Planner Review

I had a great year with Screwfix and got to do things that I wouldn't have dreamed of at the start of the year, including a business trip to Frankfurt to see how Screwfix Germany was developing.

All of my colleagues were extremely welcoming on first arrival and I was able to develop friendships with all of them very quickly. I was trained by my colleagues and given responsibilities under their supervision. This meant that I was able to take on roles much more quickly and I was soon undertaking the same level of work as all of those around me. Screwfix encourage a help culture where you don't feel stupid for asking questions, in fact it was part of the process. By the end of the year as new recruits were coming into the business I was on the other end of the process where I was actually training individuals to use the stock replenishment systems that we used.

My manager supported me throughout the year. We sat down at the start of the year and pointed out areas that I felt were my weakest competencies. I was then put on training courses to help me develop these skills from a presentation course to excel training. We would have weekly catch-ups and discuss products within my categories as well as identify areas that I could improve in terms of product availability; a key performance indicator in my role. My manager was also key in pushing me to supplier meetings and gaining experience in different areas of the business, such as inbound planning.

Usually very busy, although the job didn't ever make me work longer than 8-5 as agreed in my contract. Some periods were a bit quieter, for example coming towards the end of a catalogue. In general though, I feel like that balance was about right.

My level of responsibility increased over the year. You are given a long training period to ensure that you are aware exactly where your role fits into the business and make sure you have the skills to be able to do the job correctly. After the training period I was thrown into the day to day job gaining 3 categories within about 3 months. Towards the end of my placement I was one of the more experienced members of the team so I was given the responsibility of producing centralised tasks for the team to complete and ensuring that these areas where being completed by team members.

Through my placement I have a learnt a number of important skills that I am using now in my final studies of degree. One of these is the realisation that your body can actually cope when doing work before 10 am. In all seriousness though my inter-personal skills, team work, communication, time-management and problem solving skills were all tested throughout the year at various points as well as skills developed to work within the corporate environment, something that I have previously never done before.

Screwfix has a very unique atmosphere, it's almost like it's a large business that doesn't quite realise exactly how big it is yet. Everyone is there to work hard but there is also a friendly side to people with some real characters around the office. I think this is likely down to where the office is based, Yeovil is a small town so the catchment area for people working there is pretty small. This means that colleagues are usually up for socials and having a good laugh outside of the working environment as well.

In terms of how my direct manager organised my placement I thought it was very good. However, I did feel like more could be done in terms of placement structure, perhaps allowing individuals to see different areas of the business with fellow placement students rather than it have been the managers who were organising everything. I did make this point to one of the ladies in HR and I believe that future placement students will now see the benefits of this going forward.

As mention earlier Screwfix is keen to develop you as a person. I have been on training courses as well as conducted training to both UK and Germany employees having been lucky enough to be flown out to Germany.

I would definitely return to Screwfix at some point in the future.

Yes. I lived with two other placement students in a shared house in town. Luckily these boys were both a good laugh and we made the most of weekends when we were all at the house. In terms of Yeovil itself it has limited options but geographically it is close to some good nights like Bristol, Bournemouth, Bath and Weymouth.

Cost of living and socialising was extremely low. This allowed me to save up a good amount of money during my time down in Yeovil whilst going out most weekends.

There is 1 main club but other than that it is mostly bars. As I have mentioned earlier there are a number of destinations around Yeovil which offer a bit more in terms of nightlife which are easily accessible.

I played in a local football team during my time down in Yeovil and also joined the local golf club which is of championship level. There are probably more activities you could do but I didn't really look for anything else as these are my main passions.