Network Student Placement Review

Don't get me wrong, it was a challenge. But the opportunities I had during my placement was phenominal, and well worth all the effort.

Royal Mail is a large company with many sites, so it depends on what site you are at. I worked at 3 different sites during my placement and I found it varied, but it went from being nurturing and supportive from having the laddish banter going on between the managers at the site who would at the same time be trying to develop you. There is a big emphasis on developing placement students and everyone is happy to let you try to find your own way, make the mistakes, but at the same time support you all the way (even if they don't think it will work)

Royal Mail has a huge amount of talent in it and I found that everyone was willing to give you the time of day to talk to you and help you. The managers would always be there to give you that helping hand and I was enrolled on the same leadership courses as the graduates.

I was able to decide what I wanted to do based on what I wanted out of the placement. (I do a logistics degree so I managed warehouses as well as saw the distribution operation at a one of Royal Mail's train stations...). I found that I would be given an objective and I would have to work towards achieving that objective, so the workload varied on a day to day basis. It went from quiet days to travelling the country to audit sites in some cases...

I ran a warehouse and reviewed operations. I chose what I wanted to do and I was given the opportunity (and responsibility) to run the warehousing operation and to review particular operations with a view to making efficiency savings, and I was allowed to do it as I saw fit.

I now have A lot of impressive experiences I can sell at future interviews, and I am now a lot more aware of my skills and weaknesses. It was definately worthwhile.

There are a lot of opportunities and it is well paid, but Royal Mail is in the process of shrinking numbers so getting a job with them will be harder.

I was enrolled on the graduate scheme (for training courses), so whenever we went on one of the modules we had a good time.

It depends on where you live. Royal Mail is a national company, so living in London will be different to Living in Warrington...

Again...It depends on where you live. Royal Mail is a national company, so living in London will be different to Living in Warrington...

Royal Mail has a strong sense of being part of the community, so the postmen and women usually do things outside of work that you can get involved in.