Trainee Commercial Manager Review

Joining in retails peak trading time meant that I had to pick things up very quickly! But this rush made it exciting and the days flew by! I was fortunate enough to work on various departments and projects which kept me engaged and interested. This scheme offers great variety and is flexible allowing you to concentrate on areas you enjoy most.

As a commercial manager, I was part of the senior management team. Despite my complete lack of retail knowledge I was always made to feel welcome. I was given regular feedback by my line manager and felt appreciated for the work I completed.

M&S have a robust competency based sign off program which all graduates/placement students use as a base. This forms the basis of your development and is reviewed regularly. I would however say, a lot of self direction and initiative is essential for this placement as time is constantly against you! Retail is relentless and so the amount of time your manager can spend with you walking you through things is limited. I found I learnt best by being 'thrown in at the deep end', but I was always aware that support was around me if I needed it.

When I joined, the plans for Christmas were very much underway. This meant that I was very busy from the start as I had to quickly pick up many new skills and learn the way M&S operate. At times the work load is very intensive, with many different pressures to deliver. However, as I progressed through the scheme, I learnt to manage my workload more effectively through the use of my team and peers.

I was given large amounts of responsibility right from the off! Only 5 weeks in I was conducting interviews for Christmas Staff and I was soon running my own departments with my own team of managers and staff. If you are after a placement focused around people management and enjoy responsibility, M&S is a great option for you!

The M&S placement experience has been extremely valuable to my development personally and professionally. Having to manage teams of experienced members of staff whilst still learning creates a very challenging environment. However this practical experience has been an invaluable lesson in management and discipline.

The store I worked in has some really great characters which made the atmosphere at work good generally. However the pressure of trade and due to the vast amount of changes in the team did make it hard at times due to the ambiguity of change. Most of the staff members were great and helped

The placement scheme was very slick from the start and there was a lot of support before I started and throughout. Small touches such as a good luck text message on my first day were reassuring and having such an experienced manager as my mentor was great. The placement was very structured but without being rigid and expectations were set of from the start. The regional HR team were very supportive and took real interest in my progress.

M&S invested a huge amount of money, resource and time into my training and development. I went on numerous courses around the country, networked at national and regional events and was given time to just chat and catch up with other graduates which was really beneficial.

M&S were positive about the prospect of coming back fro the very start. They made it feel like it was there goal to ensure I was happy and wanted to come back!

I was very lucky to be placed in a store which had 2 other graduates in it. This meant that I had two people who were in the same boat as me and who I luckily got on really well with. Most students are placed with at least one other graduate or student.

I lived at home, so it was all pretty cheap for me, but as a placement salary it is one of the best, so you should be ok!

The nightlife wasn't exactly a great attraction of my placement when compared to the university scene or that of the big cities, but it was ok.

There were quite a few social events organised throughout the year. Activities such as management nights out, quiz nights and store socials were good fun, but were no formalized sports or activity societies.