Marketing Communications Coordinator Review

I have immensely enjoyed my placement this year. I’ve really enjoyed the variation in my work and having the chance to work closely with a wide range of talented people within the company.

Within my immediate team I feel very valued. Our team also works with many other departments throughout the HQ so your work is appreciated on many levels. You work with marketing departments in all of our EMEA countries on a daily basis, who also greatly appreciate the work we do with them and the support we centrally provide. Within the company as a whole, you are treated as any other permanent employee and your work is valued just as much as anyone else.

Support and guidance has been second to none, I couldn't have asked for more! I have weekly updates with my line manager to review progress and the work I’m doing, along with monthly progress reports to discuss my SMART objectives. This support has definitely helped hugely with my progression and confidence building throughout the year.

I am really happy with the amount of work I had, I always had something to keep me occupied. There can be extremely busy periods but the workload is always manageable.

Given the role is within a small team and the team manages brand and marketing communications for EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), you are given a lot of responsibility. When I heard about the things I would be doing at the start it was quite overwhelming, but you very quickly get into the swing of things and it becomes second nature. This is not a ‘tea making’ type of job, you are expected to do real and important work, which for me was the best thing that I could have hoped for!

I feel my development and the skills I've learned will be invaluable. You get real insight to business and marketing and my learning will be very beneficial as I go into final year.

General atmosphere is excellent and coming to work doesn’t in any way feel like a chore. There are regular updates and communication sessions with senior management which really help to understand how large companies like Avis Budget work. The office is a pleasant and friendly environment to work in.

The placement is very well organized as there have been placement students for a number of years now, with the number increasing every year it seems. HR will send out a list of all the placement student names and emails once all are selected. From this 4 of us lived together, everyone else lived at home or had other living arrangements. This year there are 9 students in total.

There is opportunity throughout the year to spend more time on any specific work that you really enjoy or want to get more experience of, especially within the Marketing department. I was keen to work on PR and ended up worked very closely on this and had a significant amount of responsibility. I really enjoyed this and I know it will be a huge help for when I return to university and look for graduate jobs. You also have the opportunity to visit a number of agencies we work with, widening your network and understanding.

A number of previous students in this role are now back working within the company. Whilst there are no formal graduate schemes, by making the contacts and knowing the company so well, puts you are in a very good position to apply for any relevant roles once graduated.

Socially the office is good, this is helped by the fact everyone is quite young. With colleagues there are nights out and after-work drinks from time to time. Some people also play football every Friday at lunch. Two students at the HP HQ (also in Bracknell) arranged regular inter-company bar crawls throughout the year with other companies in the area including Porsche, Microsoft, Fujitsu, IBM, Intel and Panasonic. These were held in Reading and were always a good night out with the students here, plus a chance to meet other placement students in the area.

Average for the area, our house was £75/week which is pretty standard for student accommodation. I lived in Reading so we took advantage of the student nights and discounts.

Average for the area, our house was £75/week which is pretty standard for student accommodation. I lived in Reading so we took advantage of the student nights and discounts.

There are “Sports and Social” opportunities to get involved within if you like, but most outside of work activities come from arranging with other colleagues or fellow students.