This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
The year was extremely informative and provides an opportunity to work in different areas to experience the vast amount of roles and jobs within the retail environment.
You are given a lot of opportunity and responsibility from the beginning of the year. Every employee is willing to help you and it is an extremely happy and welcoming atmosphere. The best thing I have learnt from this year is "no question is a stupid question"
There is a lot of learning that you have to do yourself which can be very challenging to begin with when you are getting used to the company. However, you will always have someone to turn to or to ask a question which you learn to use more and more throughout the year.
There was never a day where I was bored or didn't know what to do. As you are given responsibility from the beginning, you will always have a task to complete or something to be involved in.
At the beginning you are given smaller jobs to build your confidence and by the end of the year I was running a small store for holiday cover and I was the store liaison manager for moves in a large retail park store.
You learn a lot of skills while you are working on the job, a lot of the abilities you develop throughout the year you are unable to learn in a classroom or from reading a book. the best way to learn is to make mistakes and to learn from them. It will help enormously being able to link real life examples that I have learnt from or experienced to the theory we learn at university. There are a lot of transferrable skills I have learnt throughout the year that I will be able to use in any future job.
The Company
A very positive atmosphere, everyone wants to be at work and enjoys the things they do. There will always be difficult days but it is so rewarding when we achieve missions as a store which is shown by everyone from managers to customer assistants.
There was a structure for the programme with learning aids such courses and meetings with other graduates to share experiences. Things will always change within a retail environment but that is an aspect that is extremely exciting.
They put a lot of effort into our learning and allow us to go on the courses that are relevant to us but it is very self driven e.g. you are allowed to go onto the course but you have to book it yourself, you will not be told to do so. They also provide you the opportunity to show what you can do and they sometimes take risks to allow you to develop.
Subsidised Canteen
Financial Bonus
Staff Sales/Staff Shop
I would love to stay within the organisation. I want to experience different areas of the business but I believe in a lot of the values the business follows and retail is always an exciting time. I have be offered a job to return in the current role within stores, however I would like to experience a role within head office to widen my personal development.
The Culture
As I was based in a store that was on a retail park there wasn't much of a social aspect of the role. There weren't many social events outside of work as we all travelled approximately an hour to get to the store so it made it a little more difficult.
Quite expensive for socialising although it didn't happen that often. Did not live in the area therefore N/A.
N/A
There weren't many aspects outside of work to be involved in. There was a sports team however this seemed to disappear by the end of the year.
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
South East
August 2017