Placement Review

I have really enjoyed my placement year at TPP and I feel that this has given me a lot of valuable experience both to take into my final year at university and to use in my future graduate job.

I felt very valued at TPP. You are given a lot of responsibility from the start and the flat hierarchy system at the company ensures that you are treated and valued the same as a member of staff who has been there for 10 years.

There is lots of support and guidance on offer at TPP. I attended an open day before I started, therefore on my first day I already knew a few members of staff. The placement students also make up their own team and sit closely with the deployment team, so there is lots of support from both the placement students and experienced members of staff.

This varied on a day to day basis. During term time, this tended to be the busiest period as we were involved in helping with recruitment events and tasks in the office. This sometimes was overwhelming, but it was still great experience and helped improve my time management skills.

We were given a lot of responsibility at TPP. I really liked this as it made me feel valued and trusted. For example, I was involved in helping run large corporate conferences for the company which required a lot of hard work!

The skills I have gained and developed at TPP will certainly help me during my final year. I have gained confidence especially when speaking to new people and in front of large groups. I have also developed essential skills such as time management and have a better understanding with working with excel.

The working environment at TPP was positive. Everyone was always happy to help you out if you were struggling which I generally think is down to the unique work culture and the flat hierarchy. The company benefits also boosted moral in the work place too, such as pub Fridays.

The placement is set up really well. The fact that it is a 13 month placement means that the current placement students can hand over their work to the next set of students.I think that this works well as you are thrown into it straight away rather than being stuck in a room training for 6 weeks. You are also buddied up with a staff member from the deployment team, who are there to offer you additional help once the previous placement students leave.

In terms of additional training, this wasn't needed for our role, however the staff at TPP do take their time out to ensure you understand your role and that you're comfortable with the tasks that you are given. Whilst on my placement, I was given the opportunity to shadow a product specialist and watch them give training to a GP practice. I found this really interesting as it allowed me to understand more what the company does and how its core product 'SystmOne' works.

At TPP since the placement is so broad, it doesn't fit into a specific job role so the future employment prospects within the organisation are very limited

I think the social scene at TPP is one of the best things about the company. The fact that the company hosts regular parties and has social events on such as free bar tabs on a Friday and quiz nights, means that there is always opportunists to meet up with colleagues outside of working hours.

Since I go to University in Leeds I did not have to relocate so the cost of living and socialising did not change for me. From personal experience, Leeds is fairly cheap to live in and Headingley (a student area in Leeds) is in the living boundaries.

Horsforth itself is not great for nightlife due to it being a small town. However, Headingley is a 10 minute drive away and has the famous Otley Run due to the extensive amount of pubs and bars situated there. Leeds city centre is also a 10 minute train journey away and is great for a night out!

Yes there are a few opportunities at TPP to get involved in activities outside of work, for example there is five aside football and Wednesday board games nights.