Account Manager Review

I couldn't fault my placement at TLC Marketing. It is everything I wanted and more from a year in the marketing industry. I gained experience, friends and a graduate job at the end of it so they've really set me up for my future which is great. I was lucky enough to work on big brand campaigns and liaise with brand marketing managers who I speak to now because I have set up that relationship with them previously. Placement year was always going to be eye opening but I feel that I learnt more from the agency operating in the real marketing world than I did from textbooks and lectures at University. What I did learn from uni was put into practice at TLC Marketing and what I learnt at TLC Marketing I found very useful for my final year so in the end it became invaluable. There are great socials because we work hard play hard and I have so many fond memories. Everyone says how we don't need 'team bonding' and in fact we need 'unbonding' because we spend too much time together in and out the office.

I was immediately taken in as one of the TLC members, welcomed with open arms. I was asked for my opinion, my insight and university knowledge to answer questions and pushed to speak out about things I agreed or disagreed with. TLC Marketing implements horizontal management and students are seen as equal to the top guys and CEOs which made me feel comfortable instantly. I feel that they guided me and gave me direction to build my skills up and develop my understanding and didn't just give the boring or tedious tasks. We all have a very tight bond and that's half because of the social nights and half because of the opportunity to work and talk with everyone which is how we have such a TLC family. The people are what make the business - everyone says it.

Although we are here to do a job and meet company objectives and expectations, TLC Marketing sees placement students as people that want to develop their career with them. I was pleasantly surprised when they took such an interest in my uni work and assignments for placement year and took note of what I wanted to choose unit wise and for my dissertation in final year. Managers here take note of what you want to achieve in the role as well as after the placement year and actually tailor the skills and experience you develop so that you can approach you uni choices better. The directing manager has an open door policy if I had any questions or even suggestions for what we were doing. I sat next to a senior account manager which helped me understand what I was doing more and built my confidence because I could directly speak to her and work with her on things. I didn't feel like I was left in the dark at all and always felt comfortable to ask questions or state when I didn't understand something. In the end this helped me progress the most as all of this initial support allowed me to gain responsibility and freedom to do as I needed further down the line. I had quarterly performance reviews with the head of client services which is the team I work in and whenever I needed ten minutes to talk they'd be happy to fit me in. Not just that, they helped me on my uni work and reflective log books. They put time aside to see how this was going and at the end of my placement helped me with the brief of my main uni assignment (even the creative team gave some guidance on my poster I had to make about my placement year). Basically, they were always happy to help and I can see them doing even more with the placement students this year which is great.

Each day was different but none were boring or too busy. Workloads occasionally dipped or peaked but the tasks all varied making it a very fun environment. I was always happy to help someone if they needed an extra pair of hands and others did the same for me. This actually allowed us to work in other teams and develop new skills as well. When campaigns go live, client services is a fun and great place to be just because there's so many different things to do. Even when there was less to do, I was never given mindless or tedious tasks -everything was productive and helped the company move forward which was really rewarding.

From managing campaigns to lasing with big brand clients, I was given as much responsibility as any other in the team in a higher role which was really important for me in order to develop. Managers trust you to make big decisions that effect the company and what we do whilst allowing you to grow into an independent individual. It was a little preview into what it's like to actually be an account manager in the client services team which is why I have come back and found my feet so easily in my graduate role.

TLC Marketing take into account what units you want to do when you return to university and also the type of dissertation you choose. Because of this, they tailored certain elements of the role so that I could gain skills and experience to help me progress into my final year studies which came in very useful. We were already meant to be filling in a log book each week for my reflection assignment however TLC Marketing go one step further in putting time aside to do this and help in meeting the assignment brief objectives. Having this experience allowed me to get a better understanding of how agencies operate internally and externally as well. The chance to work with others in different teams exposed me to new skills that I may not have developed in my role alone. Training was frequent and met my own needs as opposed to concrete things at certain intervals. This benefited me because my needs were recognized as an individual and my own performance could improve. Although our expertise and agency is very specific in what we do, I was able to develop transferable skills that I could take into any role within the marketing industry. It made me more employable not just to TLC Marketing but to others and opened the door to more opportunities.

You can always hear laughter in the office because everyone gets along and no one gets too caught up in busy moments. Everyone's really friendly and wants to help the company move forward so we create an atmosphere we want to be part of. We build personal and professional relationships that matter and find life long friends here. We celebrate EVERY birthday without doubt and staff are well looked after and valued. Everyone puts their all in and the results are very rewarding.

The placement scheme is really well set up. It's growing by taking on more students each year which is great. The interview stage was very relaxed which reflects how each day is in the office and perfect for other students who may be great employees but weaker at interviews. Training and development is important for both parties and TLC Marketing always look to students on how to improve the scheme because we are the ones that are part of it. I'd like to see it be implemented globally as a next step because the process works so well.

TLC Marketing invest a lot of time and resourced into placement students, even past the recruitment stage. They support you and are always happy when you achieve a personal goal. If I ever needed a bit of extra support, they would give it to me. If I wanted to develop in an area we wasn't already covering, they'd set some time aside to help me. They told me that successful students can return as graduates and that is what I have done this year. Because of that, the agency invest everything into you because they want you to come back and work for them.

You start your placement knowing that the company actually want to hire you after you graduate and having that security is very important for placement students. They invest in people by finding a place for them no matter what as long as you show your potential and commitment to the company. I'm so glad I got a job with them because now I can continue my career with the very people that supported me from the word go.

Students were part of the wider social scene. We had (and still have) "fun club" which happens regularly and allows us all to come together, play games and just forget about job tasks. We often went out together on Fridays which is always a fun way to end the week and something to look forward to at the start of the week. There's the Summer Party and the Christmas Part which is really great because the company go all out with invitations, secret locations, awards and more.

London is definitely an expensive place to live and have fun in but it's nothing to worry about. Thanks to student loans and work, you get by and have fun whilst doing it.

London - the name says it all. We always go out for someones birthday and sometimes for no reason at all!

Fun club was a great time to do things out of work hours with people you work with. They definitely do it a lot more than they used to which shows its just going to keep on growing and getting better.