Student Manager Review

Despite it's being a struggle, I still really enjoyed it! It was very rewarding and I am so glad I got to work with some great people. Without a doubt it was one of the most difficult things I've done in my life, but I am so glad to have done it.

I felt very valued by the people I was in charge of and managing, and by those managing me and my peers. There is a very strong bond between all of the people in the company. I love to see this being demonstrated by anything from acts of hospitality from alumni to invitations from many of the people with whom I work to visit them in their home towns or countries.

I was given support from my immediate manager, along with advice from one of the most senior managers in the company daily. We also had meetings once a week to go into more depth on a lot of what we had learnt. These weekly meeting often featured alumni or more senior members of the company, all giving great support and helping us to excel.

I was very busy every day! I must say that I do not think this was a bad thing. I went into the job because I knew it would test me, and part of that test was learning how to manage my time. I learnt how to do this by making sure every minute was productive.

I was a manager within our organisation, and had to manage other managers, along with people new to the job. I also had to help coordinate meetings with other groups, along with travel arrangements and group training.

The skills I learnt with the Southwestern Company helped me to manage my time more efficiently, which in turn helped me to stay organised at university. I also understood the value of making sure every day was a successful and productive one. Another great skill I picked up was how to set goals in order to achieve great things. I strongly believe that the best thing I learnt was that everyone is capable of anything they put their mind to, as long as their will to succeed is strong enough.

There were a couple of hiccups - as there would be in any office! It was great though, I loved the people I was working with and thoroughly enjoyed helping them to hit their goals.

I think the organisation of the placement can be reflected in our success as a group during the summer. We all ran successful businesses in Colorado, USA, for approximately 12 weeks, and there were very few logistical problems or otherwise.

There were meetings every week on our campus at university. Furthermore, the managers were always happy to help people to prepare whenever they were free. There were also several more major meetings,such as a leadership weekend in Ardeonaig in Scotland, a Success Seminar in Edinburgh, and seminars in Bratislava, all to help us with our sales. On top of this, we had a week long intensive training course the week before our internship began.

I am currently considering whether or not to continue working with them if I am able to!

Some of my very best friends are people I met through this company. I look forward to seeing them at any opportunity and I love the time spent with them, either working or relaxing. The company also either subsidised or paid for some fantastic trips to areas such as The Gambia, Gatlinburg, TN, and Egypt. These all been great events, and are amazing times to socialise with some great people.

I had free accommodation provided for me for more than half of the summer, all I had to do was pay for my food and gas.

we didn't have a huge number of opportunities to experience the nightlife because we chose to work instead. There were, however, some great bars and restaurants very close to where we lived and worked,

Colorado seems to be one of those places where you cant run out of things to do! We went to some of the most amazing sights I have ever seen, went on some great walks, did a lot of biking, experienced local cultures such as the sports and food.