Sale Support Analyst Review

I have enjoyed my work placement thoroughly. I have had many opportunities to network, increase my skillset which I will benefit from when heading back to university and starting a graduate job. I believe I am heading back to university with a more mature outlook after spending one year in industry.

I do feel valued by my colleagues. When I have performed well, both in my day-to-day core job role and side projects, I feel valued and am recognised for the effort I have put in. During regular meetings with my manager, we discuss the work I am involved in and I have the opportunity to say if I feel undervalued.

I am encouraged to speak up at every opportunity whenever I feel unsure. My manager and supervisor are always on hand if I have any questions and will go through each process to make sure I feel confident. It is much better to ask more questions, rather than stay unsure.

It varies each day, as I am not only working on my core job role. When I am taking part in certain projects, I will be very busy for weeks. There are times when the work pace slows down and you have time to focus on your day-to-day. The end of the quarter is always busy.

I have been given as much responsibility that I feel confident to take on. At the beginning, I was eased into the workload as it is about understanding each process. But as I became more confident, I was able to be much more independent and work on side projects within the team.

I have really enjoyed the atmosphere. Although people sit in cubes, it is open and you sit with your team. There are many things to do rather than just sitting at your desk all day, the coffee bar is really nice, there is a massage chair and a games room.

This work placement has been organised. There are lots of things throughout the year that are set up for the interns to progress with both learning and social events. There is a handover period both when you start as an intern and when your predecessor starts. This is to ensure that the interns are fully ramped up to speed.

The social scene is really appealing amongst the interns. This year, there is about 50 interns so there is usually always something going on. There are lots of planned events (ball/ bar crawl/ pub quiz/ sporting events) especially during the handover period, both of the old and new interns are encouraged to socialise.

Living costs can be pretty low, compared to most university accommodations. I would recommend sorting accommodation out in advance, because you're able to secure accommodation for around 320-350 a month (sometimes less!). Socialising cost varies, if you go out on a Thursday it is a lot cheaper than a weekend.

Swindon is quite a small place, so there aren't loads of clubs but there are many bars and because there are so many interns it is fun to go out. Bristol and Bath are close enough to Swindon, so if you had a big enough group you could share a taxi and go to a bigger city.