Assistant Buyer Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at Marston Green. It was highly beneficial and helped me progress on to my final year of University. It was fast paced, informative and gave you a well rounded aspect of working life. It cam with its unique challenges as any job would and would recommend a placement here.

The support was excellent. Over time you learnt that everyone was approachable and any question would be answered regardless of how trivial it seemed. You were treated like a full time member of staff from the start and every comment or idea you had was well received and listened to .

I was given a lot of support from my manager and he guided and helped me when I asked. Even when he was busy he was able to make time when he had a moment and help me understand the next steps and why I was doing it that way.

As with all placements I had some really busy weeks and also quieter weeks. At the start things were quite quiet but as you build into the role the responsibilities increased. I was also given my own project to run which kept me busy for 6 months of the placement, I also had a lot of day to day tasks.

I was given a lot of responsibility by the end and was making decisions that could affect some aspects of site. A lot of decisions I made did have my line managers verbal approval which made life easier as I knew what I was doing was correct. You didn't feel as if you had too much responsibility

I made many skills for life which helped me in my final year of studies and beyond. These were not only business acumen skills but also time management skills and how to work under pressure. It also taught me a lot of organization skills which helped in my final year when organizing priorities.

The atmosphere was always positive. There were quiet times when people were working but it was always happy and everyone got on.

Doing a placement in the early days meant that there was not much support at the beginning and not much was done to meet other IP's and help settle in. I have learnt that this has improved dramatically and that the IPs are set up in a WhatsApp chat and also there are team building games at the start.

You were invited on all sorts of training at the local college which was given free.

Lots of past Industrial Placements have managed to secure a job either at Marston Green or at another UTAS site. If there is a job available and you proved yourself to be good enough they are willing to offer you a job. However jobs are not easy to come by.

Towards the end when we realized there were more of us we socialized more and still socialize now but this didn't happen at the start.

Birmingham is expensive top rent in and living in a city can be expensive. However as you are paid well you don't feel as if you are struggling at any point. Travelling around Birmingham can be expensive but compared to London prices its not too bad. I would recommend living in a shared flat to lower living costs.

Birmingham has a fantastic nightlife and there are plenty of bars and clubs. There is a night for every occasion and taste. There is also a lot of places to eat and do activities on an evening which don't involve drinking. The student community is also big and very easy to get involved in.

There were some activities but not many. There were football tournaments and charity events happening and most teams went out at christmas