Property Management Assistant Review

I definately enjoyed my experience working with McDonaalds. The role was quite varied so there was usually something difeferen to work towards each day. It was important to me to get a placement before returning for my final year at uni and having a company like McDonalds on my CV will certainly put me in a better position when looking for graduate jobs than if I hadn't worked there.

I was made to feel valued from day 1 and never felt like I was treated as just a 'placement student' who was just there for the year and then left. When I had completed tasks early or done something well it was recognised and noticed which continues to motivate you to work hard.

I was supported well by my supervisor. Obviously, when you start a new job/placement it takes a while to get to grips with your responsibilites/what to do/who to contact but my supervisor was easily approachable and helped when I had a query or needed something double checking.

How busy I was varied from day to day. I always had day to day management issues that would come up but a lot of the times these could be resolved quite quickly. If i did find myself bored or didnt have much on then I could always ask if there was anything else that needed dealing with and could be assigned new tasks.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility from day one. I dealt with day to day management issues that arose from the restaurants, I got to deal with negotiations for land purchases and dealt with the license for alterations for the on-going reimaging programme. Help was always there if needed but apart from that I was left to deal with my own workload and tasks.

I believe the skills I developed will put me in a good position when applying for graduate jobs and will also help me with the final year of my degree. Having work experience is key when applying for graduate jobs and having spent 12 months in the industry at one of the most recoginised companies in the world is always going to help. Also, the people skills that i have developed should help with future interview scenarios etc.

The atmosphere varied depnding on the day. A lot of people came into the office once a week at the start of the week then were either working from home or on site visits fo rthe rest of the week so at times it could be quite quiet.

I feel the placement was organised well. I knew what my role was and what I needed to do.

The company paid for my travel expenses when i went down to London to attend training courses and also covered the costs of lectures I had to attend during the year to complete my 'continued professional developement'.

Unfortunately the company does not tend to retain placement students as there are no graduate positions within my department.

I was based in the Salford Office and was the only placement student in the office. However, we did play football on most Friday lunch breaks and occasionaly went out for drinks.

I lived locally so was able to commute from home. However, there are a lot of reasonably priced places to live around the area and Manchester has a great scene for socialising and there was lots of other placement students/graduates to meet up with after work.

Manchester has a really good nightlife and is reasonably priced. I went out a few times with my colleagues and also with other placement students and their companies.

There was quite a few opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. During my first week, i went down to London to play in a 5-a-side tournament against other companies. There was also a Dodgeball tournament. I went go-karting during the summer and there was a summer drinks event and Christmas party.