Premium Beauty Buying Assistant Review

I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of my placement at Walgreens and Boots Alliance. I spent the year as a Buying Assistant in the Premium Beauty category and met the most amazing people throughout the year and was supported in every way possible to gain the graduate job I so wanted at the end.

From the get go never was I treated any differently to the rest of the team despite only being there for a year. I made an amazing group of not only fellow employees but also friends whilst on my YII that I continue to stay in touch with. The L&D team also never failed to remind us of the return on investment the business was getting by hiring my YII cohort which always allowed us to feel valued and worthwhile.

My manager always showed such a high level of trust in me and never failed to remind me of my ability when I felt like I was struggling. It was clear from the get go the expectations that the business had of me, and my manager always made it very clear that it was as important to her as it was to me to make sure I finished the year in the position I so wanted and that was to be ready for a graduate role at Boots.

I found that my schedule and to do list was always rather busy, but it was achievable and it was down to personal preference. As soon as I felt like I could do my basic day job I asked for a lot of stretch within my role to allow me to develop myself. Therefore, I had a lot more work to do than was expected of me. But keeping so busy made not only the day go fast but it also taught me a lot more about the ABM role preparing myself for the graduate role I wished to get.

A lot of people have expectations of placement's that you are given a project(s) for a year to get on with. With Boots, this isn't the case at all you are given a day job the exact same as everyone else at your level within the business. Therefore, the responsibility is great but also with this as a YII you have a year to prove your ability to the business which meant that to do so taking on more responsibility only showed your passion and motivation to do above and beyond your day job. However, my manager never gave me the responsibility for anything she didn't think I was capable of and always offered support if she felt I couldn't manage something alone.

My placement at Boots taught me much more than I ever imagined, with this experience you then have an organisational study that you can apply to every theory you discuss within your assignments / exams. It allowed me to understand all aspects of a business much clearer and gave me the opportunity to explore what departments of the business I was most interested in for the future.

The Boots Head Office has a great atmosphere, its so chilled out, young and diverse. It becomes a place to socialise as well as work when everyone you meet is so friendly and easy to get on with you end up building so many great relationships with people in so many different departments. There is always stuff going on like brand pavilions and fundraising events.

The L&D team did an amazing job at keeping us on track. At the beginning it was hard to see how we would ever develop so much within a year but we really did. The L&D team set the year up so that we had all the necessary training, we met all the right people and we had so many opportunities to exploit ourselves to show how much we'd grown as Boots employees.

Boots invested in us massively, we were offered so much training focusing on so many different factors of our development including learning styles to figure out how we work best and agile management training to prepare us for projects and teams we will mange in the future. As well as the training for our every day job roles including negotiation training and financial analysis.

I was lucky enough to receive an offer for a Trading Graduate Role at Walgreens and Boots Alliance to start in 2019 and I can't wait to be back in the business and settling into my new role as an Assistant Buying Manager.

Absolutely - I was very lucky to be in a team full of all girls who loved to go out and socialise just as much as I did. It made working together 10x easier and more fun because we built such good relationships. The YII cohort also was amazing to be apart of, we all clicked from day one and got on so well which always helps when you've got other people in the same boat who you can talk to when you feel you're struggling. Socialising with other people around the different departments within the business was also great for networking!

Socialising in Nottingham can be as cheap or as expensive as you choose to make it - there is so many different activities available in Nottingham or closely by that you can take advantage of. Dependent on where you live the living costs my vary, but they are still much cheaper than you would find in areas such as London.

Nottingham's a great night out, with a lot of really nice bars and clubs if that's more your scene all in close proximity to each other. As mentioned earlier Boots is a really sociable place full of young people who all enjoy going out therefore nights out in Nottingham did allow you to socialise with other employees outside of work.

Yes! Everyone was always very much up for socialising outside of work whether this was team away days, nights out or fundraising activities such as the children in need call centres. As long as you are willing to take part and are able to build good relationships you'll never struggle to get a group of people to socialise with.