This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I have found this placement to be enjoyable. The work environment is very busy and somewhat chaotic but has a sense of vibrancy and a buzz that encourages you to be productive and want to achieve things. There have been lots of challenges, and placements at M&S will most likely strech you however this can only be beneficial in the long run.
I think my valuation by colleagues at Marks and Specer's has been very fair, the team is right behind you supporting you and encouraging you to do your best work. However they are also honest with you should your work not be up to standard and I think this has encouraged me to preform well.
Support and guidance by management and supervisors has been one of the less useful parts of working here, colleagues are helpful and friendly but everyone is so busy that it sometimes feels as if they just don't have time for you, which is understandable as they have intense jobs to do however it can have a negative impact on my own productivity.
There is always work to do, l have never found a time where I could not find some more work to do. However there has been an irregular fluctuation of work due to the nature of a retail buisness it is quite hard to properly allocate your time in advance as there is so much variability in your day to day work.
I would say that I was given just about the right amount of responsibility, I felt that during my work I have been asked to work on projects that gave me the option to provide meaningful impact in my area of the buissness, but at the same time I have not felt that I was left unsupported.
I think that the skills that I have learnt while working here will continue to develop and will be useful accross my degree and into later life. I hoped that during my time working here my horizons would be broadened and that I would gain a better perspective on working, and work flow. I have definitly found this to be the case.
The Company
The general atmosphere within the office is one of an excited hub. Everyone is very personable and there is a definite sense of it being a team, working together towards a common target. However the office can also be somewhat chaotic and there is quite a stressful intensity to the hustle and bustle within the office.
I was the first person to work on this particular placement scheme, which meant that understandably there have been some teething issues and I think if it hadn't been for one or two particularly helpful colleagues I would have found it very dificult to understand what I was supposed to do. The core structure of my placement has been very clearly defined but filling in the gaps is where the issues lie.
The company has done a very good job of investing in me, willing to send me to trainings and to spend days of my work going to places to learn and understand more of the buissness and the section that I am working on. I have definietly felt like my education and learning has been a priority for the company.
Flexi Time
National Travel
Staff Sales/Staff Shop
I have been informed that employment oppertunities in the near future with this employee are not very plentiful. I also find the location of the offices somewhat inconvenient, however if a job oppertunity came up I would definitely consider it as they seem like an exciting and good employer. I would be willing to work here in the future.
The Culture
Placement students within my portion of the buissness were all connected and pulled together on a few seperate occassions. Since then the buissness has recomended that we all meet together and learn from each other. That being said day to day interactions between other placement students are fairly limited due to the size of the buissnesss.
London is exceedingly expenisve and the vast majority of my salary was spent on commuting. Food and other necesities are very highly priced in London. This meant that despite the relatively good salary among placement students this particular placement will not earn you much money, if you choose to live in London.
London is pretty well known for being an exciting place, as the capital city there is always something going on and I have no doubt that whatever your scene is you can find somewhere in London that will fulfil that area of interest. I do not forsee night life being an issue here.
I did not find too many oppertunities to get involved with much outside of work, although I do not doubt that there were plenty of opertunities accross the buissness should they be something that you are interested. I have never found myself lost for things to do outside of work.
Details
Placement (10 Months+)
London
September 2019