Marketing Assistant Review

Overall the whole year was an amazing experience and one of the best years of my life. VW was challenging and encouraging, and all the opportunities I experienced were unforgettable.

Everyone at VW was brilliant, my team treated me like they would anyone else and we all supported each other! I wasn't treated like an 'undergrad' and my opinion mattered, which I loved about my department.

When I first started the support I was given was brilliant, I had a long training period, lots of courses and the tasks I completed my team were checking I was okay throughout. After a while you start getting thrown a bit more in the deep end, with support there if you need it!

I was very very busy on a daily basis, which was great, however for part of my placement I was really struggling with workload, and had to ask for help. I loved the work, and liked being busy but it is easy to be a 'yes man' and suddenly have way to much to do!

I was amazed when I started how much responsibility I was given, it was great to instantly know you're trusted. I didn't get more responsibility as time went on (which I thought I would), but I did become more accountable for my decisions which was the main learning.

I cannot quantify how much this year has developed me as a person, professionally and personally. It has been amazing to see the difference in confidence, and also clarity in what I want from a career and where my skills are. I have also learnt my weaknesses, and I now have final year of University to develop these before graduating.

I worked in ŠKODA which is known in the office as a fun brand, and it was the best. We had a culture of 'being different', we constantly had fun events and experiences. On a daily basis, the office was a friendly environment!

It was well organised, some parts of my placement weren't dealt with well e.g. HR department confidentiality. However, in terms of the actual running of the placement it was well run.

We had any training course available to us, many we were enrolled on automatically and others we could opt into. These courses were brilliant to make use of. My brand ŠKODA also had a 'Super 8' programme encouraging employees to spend 8 hours a month developing a skill outside of work.

Graduate scheme is not very competitive as it has now been cut to less roles, with no indication of what roles these will be. The scheme also does not guarantee a job at the end. However, I would happily apply directly for a role within the brands as I would love to work at VW again.

There were 40 undergraduates in my year, which meant we would all do things in the evenings and weekends. I also socialised with my colleagues which was fun, we did anything from pub nights to trampoline dodgeball!

In comparison to Uni, I found this year really cheap accommodation wise. I paid approx £350 a month plus bills, and I lived in a lovely 4 bed house, that was huge! Socialising is average prices, it's close to London too so that was good to get the train into London!

Milton Keynes isn't the best for nightlife, but I always enjoyed our nights out. Theres only one big club, but plenty of bars/ small clubs. Theres lots of people about, it's never quiet but it's not quite a night out in a big city!

Quite a few non-work related activities with work they would promote and sports teams etc.. in terms of Milton Keynes activities I think if you looked you could find some, but I didn't see many opportunities!