Assistant Review

During my placement year I was given a lot of responsibilty. I managed weekly projects that had a real affect on trade and marketing. The job was initially quite difficult however after the first 3 months I became more comfortable and began to become an asset to my team and Tesco.

Within the first few months I was viewed as a colleague and not a work placement student. Throughout my dealings with various stakeholders on a daily basis, many of them were unaware I was a placement student.

I was continually supported by my manager however I felt he was a little uneducated on the placement scheme. I felt as if the main emphasis of my year was to do a job for Tesco rather than my development as a student. I never had to push for approval to attend certain courses but a large majority of my time was allocated to doing my day to day job.

I had a good manager who did not micro manage. I was left to get on with my jobs and had daily/hourly deadlines to meet. This kept me interested in my job however I was expected to work late if the job I was working on was not finished, which I believe was totally acceptable.

I was given a huge amount of responsiblity. At first I struggled to cope with the workload however as my skills developed my workload became more manageable. I was given large budgets to work with. Although the creativity side of the job was very low I was still able to see how my work impacted sales and trade.

I have definitely improved on the following skills - time management, excel skills, phone manner and how to deal with different people. This job was also helped me to decide on a dissertation topic.

Hectic at times. Very loud. Good atmosphere. Good incentives to do well. Approachable managers. Open planned.

Very few days out of the office with our placement students. Very little contact time with the placement co-ordinator. My manager was very unaware of the scheme. The inital meet and greet days were good.

I went on 4 one day courses in my 12 months at the company. I felt as though the main objective of my placement was to fill a vacancy in the department rather than my development as a student.

Depending on an end of year presentation and reccomendation from your manager,

Very few chances organised to see other placement students. No more than 4 in the whole year.

Lived in Hertford which is an OK night life but more centred towards 25/30+ age group, a lot more bars than clubs. Very nice feel to the town though.Quite expensive on rent.

OK. One club and many bars. Well connected to London.

I had a good office morale and we regularly went for nights out. The people you work with really make a difference to your placement and I was fortunate to really get on with mine.