Business Placement Program Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my year at Marks and Spencers'.

All colleagues were very supportive of me and my development throughout all levels of management. I was treated as one of the managers and was given the confidence on heading up projects within store.

We were given a mentor who was a high level commercial on the first day we started. Mine was very supportive and we had regular feedback sessions on my performance against the business competencies on a weekly/ monthly basis dependent on activity. Along with that my store manager set up regular feedback session on a weekly basis at first 6 months of my training after then where I was more comfortable I'm the job role it was on an Ad Hoc basis. Word of advice retail especially around Christmas when the start date is, is a very busy period so you have to Chase for the meetings it may be hard to find a free time but its all about you and how you control your learning.

Retail was always going to be busy from day 1. You start going into the Xmas period so there are lots of things to chase commercially , getting after sales, doing moves for xmas (Gift Shop, Turkey Ordering etc..) . However that is the nature of retails so you need to get used to early starts late nights weekends, Bank Holidays and flexibility is essential.

At the start of my placement straight away I was given a department to look after I was given Xmas Gift shop and had full responsibility to look after sales, stock and the staff within it with support from my line manager. As the placement progressed I was given more and more to look after including the Loyalty Events, Instore Charity, Food for Mothers day, Shop You way desk and multi channel sales including IPADS, Back to school campaign and Per Una Relaunch. If you can prove that you can head up a project you will be given more accountability.

The amount that I learnt from the employees around me I will take away from forever. You learn many transferable skills that you will have for life, That you would never have been taught from Uni.

There was barley any backstage space so you need to be based mainly on the Shop Floor. Atmosphere was fast paced but very friendly.

We were given 1 on 1 time with commercial/store manager on a weekly basis. On arrival organisation could have been a bit more structured, however after time our relevant Commerical Mentor we were assigned Business Units for the rest of the year with out of store attachments also arranged.

They ivested a lot around training. Rougly about a course a month were we had to travel to London for all expenses paid for which was really valuable as we got to meet other BPP's and Graduates around the countries. We also had month Regional meetings with all the other grads on the region where we would be set projects to work together with so this gave us an opportunity to set up links and friendships with others around the region. Also the HR BP arranged ad hoc meetings with us to discuss issues we may have on a 1 to 1 basis and any feedback we had to them, this created a fantastic support network.

I managed to get my job back after my last year of Uni, as a BP Returner. Which was fantastic news and I cannot wait to return!

We went on on a few nights out with the management which is always fun for leaving parties or birthdays! At our store we were very luck to have a strong sports and Social Committee they organised Xmas events and a Jubilee event with free drinks and hog roats!

I lived at home and commuted 1 hour to work everyday.

In Southampton so very good a range of bars and clubs to go to.

There were lots of organised trip from the sports and social including Ascot and shopping days.