Trainee Buyer Industrial Placement Review

Towards the end of the placement I loved the it and was very sad to leave! I felt as though at the begining of the year it was tough to fully get into the swing of things with a lot to take in, but the team were fantastic and I soon settled in!

At the begining there were times when you could feel perhaps a little ignored by some colleagues, when the pressure was on them to meet a deadline. However at the end of the year I felt as though I was a major part of the team, called upon just as much as the trainee buyer.

I felt as though if I ever had anything that I was unsure of or needed to ask, I could always ask and nothing was ever too much in terms of support that I needed.

This was very much dependent on the time of the season, however as a general rule I had the perfect balance of work and always knew that there was something that needed to be done and had the support of other members of the team when large tasks needed to be completed.

I feel as though mid way through my placement, was when I started to be given responsibility and thrived on this and this was when I feel my colleagues started to take me more seriously and knew that I was capable of doing things.

I feel as though the skills that I have learnt will be invaluable to me for my last year at university as well as when going onto my future career. I feel much more prepared to go back to university and feel as though I will do much better in my degree than I would have done without this experience as I am now able to contextualise topics and draw from my own experience.

Matalan is a very team focused company and while I was there, there were countless team activities and planned events for team bonding. The closeness of my team made my whole experience much more fun!

As Matalan have numerous placement students within the company, they seem to be seasoned pros at this and I never encountered any problems during my time here.

I feel as though was I to go back to the company after university, I could slip into the trainee buyer role seamlessly as they train you up to be the same standard as the trainee level.

I have been told to get back in contact with them as soon as I finish my last exam!

Although there were other placement students there at the same time, there was no opportunity to meet up with them organised by the company.

I lived at home during this time and so my living costs did not change at all. However in this area, it is not close from Manchester and Liverpool and so if you want to be in a city then the living/socialising costs would obviously be higher.

Again it it close to both Manchester and Liverpool and so you have the choice of where you want to be and both being major cities it is brilliant!

These varied team per team, for mine there were many opportunities and also as a general kidswear team.