CRM Specialist Review

I had a great year, met some wonderful people, and have learned so much from my placement.

I felt valued in terms of the work I did for them, but also as a friend. I went on a couple of nights out with them, and even a weekend trip abroad!

I had weekly 1 to 1 meetings with my manager, and was assigned a mentor at the beginning of the year, who was from a different department and so could offer different viewpoints and help me get in touch with others around the business. I also set goals with my line manager, which we reviewed throughout the year.

There were ups and downs, as I was in charge of the quarterly newsletter and bi-annual customer magazine, so when coming up to a print or send deadline I could be very busy, but it was never too much for me to handle and I always had the help I needed.

I was in charge of putting together the customer magazine twice a year, and corresponding with agencies to build emails. My manager also gave me projects to work on myself. I never had to make any coffee or pick up dry cleaning, I had real responsibilities that I knew were vital to the business!

The skills I have developed will help me through many future roles, I'm sure, and the business knowledge I have gained has given me some ideas and insight on how to approach my final year dissertation.

The marketing department was always fun, with snacks abundant and conversation topics of all sorts.

We had a two week "Handover" period, where the person leaving the role was with you to help you settle in to the role and learn the ropes. They also wrote us each a hangover guide; a folder with detailed descriptions of all the duties of the role and how to carry them out. During these two weeks, there was also a social event every night, just like freshers at university, to introduce us to the local nightlife, bars, and entertainment.

We have had a few sessions over the year for presentation training, and dignity at work, but I feel we should have had some specific excel training. Most of our training was on the job, but the majority of us use excel on a daily basis and so could have benefited from formal training of some kind. Nevertheless, my excel skills have improved!

They don't have a formal graduate scheme like their undergraduate scheme, but there are future employment opportunities and many undergrads do return! About a quarter of my team are employees who were previously on an undergraduate placement here.

The 2 weeks handover was great, and we have planned many nights out since!

It's close to London without suffering from London prices. Rent was around £230 to £360, and socialising didn't break the bank either.

There are no clubs in Luton, apart from Yates that turns into a sort of club at night time. We made do with the local Wetherspoons though, and every few months we'd go to Club Batchwood in St Albans. There are some nice pubs around Luton, and a Jazz and Blues bar(The Bear Club) that I would highly recommend!

The Internal Communications department is always putting on events. During my year I took part in a Half Marathon, London to Brighton bike ride, Go Karting event, sponsored sleepout, Christmas meal, tubing on a dry ski slope, any many charity quizzes, all organised or advertised through emails from Internal Comms.