Commercial Manager Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement. I found it very eye opening and engaging. I was given a lot of responsibility at an early date which made my work much more interesting. The workload is good as it kept me busy all the time which can be rare for placements like this.

My colleagues were extremely helpful, the employees at Mace are all very easy to get along with. Social events that are run by Mace are a great opportunity to grow your professional network and socialize in an informal manner. I believe this made it much easier to approach people. The whole team are welcoming and very insightful and most importantly, they value your opinion. Weekly team meetings offered me the chance to raise queries, and I was surprised to see that some of my proposals were being acted on.

My line manager and colleagues offered me guidance throughout. We would arrange meetings at various stages of my placement to check progress. I found this useful as they would inform me on what I should be working towards, and fill in areas where my knowledge did not meet the mark.

I found my workload would vary from day to day. Some days I would have a large task to complete which could take the whole day due to my lack of experience. Other days, I would only find myself busy for half the day. However with the remaining half of the day, I would familiarize myself with Mace learning tools, the infomace page, and various other elearning modules so I could progress my knowledge without constantly asking fellow colleagues for more work.

I was given a surprisingly large amount of responsibility, which I found empowering yet encouraging, as it showed me that my colleagues believe in me and my capabilities. It was comforting to know that my work would be checked before I submitted it, as mistakes do happen, especially when you lack the experience and knowledge required to complete the task.

I believe the skills I achieved during this placement such as time management and prioritizing tasks will be easily transferable to my degree studies. Additionally, the legal tasks I undertook has allowed me to grasp the importance of administration and contract law, which I struggled with before the placement. As a result I will study law in much more depth once I return to university and hopefully gain a greater understanding for when I return to Mace.

The general atmosphere in the office was welcoming. Everyone was more than happy to take time out of their busy day to help me. It was interesting for me to see the ways people in the office engaged with each other. I found it very formal. Meetings were arranged online via Outlook in specific meeting rooms.

The work placement was very well organized. On my first day I attended an induction day at Mace Head Office, where I familiarized myself with the "Mace Way" and the various objectives that we should achieve out of the placement. Then on my second day I arrived on site and was given all the appropriate equipment i.e laptop, phone, bag, mouse, headphones etc.

Since I was only on a 10 week placement I didn't really have time to attend any of the personal training and development days that were on offer, however Infomace's elearning page has an endless amount of useful development modules which I completed. For example there is a module showing you how to manipulate data in Excel, which I found very useful.

Future employment at Mace is very appealing due to the various perks they offer such as free travel. Additionally, the graduate development program is highly praised by all the staff that I have spoken to and the career progression map on the infomace website offers a clear visualization to the promotion routes that I could take.

The social scene amongst fellow placement students is good. Mace organize an event at the end of your placement where you can go for drinks with fellow summer placements, and talk about your experiences. This was useful as it allowed me to interact with people of a similar age who I may see in the future if I return to Mace.

Since I was based in London the cost of socializing, depending on how hard you socialize, can be very expensive. However this is to be expected when working in the city. If you want a cheaper night out look for a Whetherspoons further out of London. The cost of living for me was low as I was able to live at home and commute to work.

The area I worked in is currently under redevelopment, there is only two bars nearby however, it is perfect for drinks after work as it is on the way to the tube station and fellow colleagues can be spotted having a drink out the front on a Thursday night. I was often passing by when I was invited in for a few drinks to discuss the day and my progress at Mace.

Yes, Mace offer "Mace Days" where you are paid your normal wage to volunteer at a charitable event. This is very considerate and the various Mace Days on offer can be viewed on the infomace website, all you have to do is choose one which you like the sound of.