Cruise Trading Assistant Review

I have absolutely loved every aspect of my placement! From the events and opportunities that I have had access to, to the responsibility I was given in my day to day role, every aspect of my placement has exceeded expectations.

The responsibility and empowerment that I was given from day one has been incredible and really helped me to develop in my role as well as my wider skills. Where assistance was required, team members were always happy to support me. My opinions and preferences were always valued and taken into consideration.

I was given support on a day to day basis by my manager as well as other members of the team. Beyond this I also had one to one's with my manger every week where any issues could be discussed. There was also support available from the dedicated placement scheme team at TUI who in addition to my line manager provided and collected feedback for me to build on.

My workload did increase as my placement progressed, especially when I worked on dedicated projects for the placement scheme. Overall I enjoyed the workload because it motivated me and I am always someone who looks to get involved in as much as possible. Sometimes the workload became too much and was unbalanced but this was only for a short period of time.

I was given the responsibility of full time member of the team during my placement and was treat on an equal footing to all other individuals. If additional responsibility was desired, the company were always happy to provide this. I also began to work on and made good progress on the framework that must be completed to achieve my first promotion when I return to TUI after my final year at university.

Although not all of the knowledge/skills that I developed will be directly applicable to some of the modules that I will study in my final year, they were still invaluable. My commercial acumen, analytical and problem solving skills as well as other soft skills such as presentation and time management skills have greatly developed over my placement year and these are skills that I will carry forward through the rest of my career.

My office had a very relaxed atmosphere which really made it an enjoyable place to work. There were times when there was greater pressure in my role but this never felt overwhelming. The company also provided a number of events through the year to ensure people had fun and enjoyed being in the office.

The placement was well organised by the team who have a lot of experience in placement programmes. They built on these experiences to make sure that not only the correct events/training were provided but that they were also provided at the correct time. Right from when I started and was given my induction plan, I felt that all of my needs had been taken into account.

Honestly could not fault the company at all here. The investment and focus that they put on my training and development was one of the key reasons why I loved my job so much. They went out of there way to ensure that all bases were covered. This is a huge strength of the TUI placement scheme.

From very early on in my placement year, I realised that I wanted to return to the business after my final year at university and I am very pleased to say that I have been given the opportunity to do so. I am absolutely delighted about this!!!

Yes there were good social ties between myself and other colleagues in the business and this is something that the company promoted and facilitated. I felt like they provided the right balance of events. These definitely helped me integrate into the business from an early stage.

Living near London and given that a lot of the social events were held in London due to the variety of options available, the year was fairly expensive. Although travel wasn't too expensive with the student railcard, I did find the cost of living and socialising high.

The nightlife was fairly poor and I certainly didn't feel comfortable in the area after dark. This was limiting. It was possible to go out in London but having to travel made the evenings longer and often wasn't desirable.

Although there were opportunities, I struggled to attend these given that I do not have a car. As such many of the activities I took part in over the year were organised through work.