Marketing Coordinator Review

I really enjoyed my placement year at 3M. My role as marketing coordinator has been a great stepping stone in my career and I was given a lot of responsibility and support on a daily basis. I also had a great social life whilst working there; taking part in the extra curricular activities available such as touch rugby. 3M offers a number of placement opportunities, which means theres a nice young community there.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues. They would give regular positive feedback and in-trusted me with a lot of responsibility, which helped me acquire extra skills not on the job specification. Working in a small team, my support and contribution was crucial in the day-to-day running of the business.

My manager/supervisor was amazing. She was so supportive of my progression throughout the year, and has continued to take an interest in where my career might take me. We had regular meetings to evaluate my performance and she helped me work towards my personal goals whilst at 3M. Unfortunately, she had to go on leave part-way though my placement year, but the team were more than happy to step in and help with anything I needed.

At the start of the placement I wasn't that busy. Due to the technical nature of the business, I spent the first few months getting to know the products and market structure. However, once I became more confident in my abilities, I was given a lot more responsibility. I was busiest during the run up to an event or product launch.

I was not given as much responsibility as I would have liked at the start of the placement year, however throughout the time there this increased monumentally. I was in charge of organisation and running the business's internal and external events. I was in charge of the digital and communications of the business, which involved working with agencies and distributors, and managing the budget. When my manager left part way through my placement, I was given the final-say over the campaigns run which reflect directly on the wider 3M.

My experience in the workplace has most importantly enhanced my communication skills. Like many, my role was dependant on other peoples cooperation and skill sets, therefore being able to communicate effectively and motivate them to complete the task at hand was essential. I have also learnt how to effectively multi-task. The development of time management has helped me tackle the shorter-term and longer-term projects along side one another. 3M has a number of training programme available online and offline. I undertook the workshops: communication skills, becoming a productivity ninja, insight personality profiling, composites training, developing your personal brand, and email marketing. I will be able to take away the skills I have learnt from these back to my degree and beyond.