Team manager Review

The start wasn't too enjoyable, there is a lot to take in, and it's certainly a big step into a warehouse environment. As you get into the swing of things though, everything becomes more familiar, normal, and once I got properly into it, if i took a holiday, i would just get bored and want to come back in to work as I enjoyed the daily job that much!!

As a placement student, you obviously are seen as the least experienced, but the managers at my site were used to it, so are happy to make time for you, by the 6 month mark, I felt valued as equally as the other managers who had been there 10+ years. I was given loads of responsibility, and had a lot of my suggestions implemented.

I felt like there was very lacking support when i started out, this is likely to be due to the manager i had back then however. The other 2 managers i worked for (people move about a lot!) were fantastic, and extremely supportive and kept pushing me and giving me opportunities to do things that I'd imagine no other placements will offer you

When in the warehouse and running the operation, things can get very hectic. With experience in the job however, you realise that you control how busy you need to be, and with the correct knowledge of the people, suppliers and running of the warehouse you can be busy but not "feel busy".... sorting out problems and dealing with the day to day issues just becomes second nature. The days go by so quickly when it's busy.... A busy Friday will always be so much more hectic, but o by much quicker than a slow Monday!

I am so happy with the responsibility I was given. Like i said before, if it werent for the fact that my paycheck was a fraction of my colleagues, there was no difference between you and the other managers. You're not sheltered from things as an IP and are expected to do all the duties and responsibilities of a proper manager, this isn't a placement where you are just there to simply watch and learn.... you become a full on manager for a year!

The placement has improved my confidence loads. Having all of the responsibility, and simply being able to manage a team of 30-odd surly 30-60 year olds does wonder for your confidence in your abilities, etc. I developed a lot of itnerpersonal skills too, such a large part of the job is people-based, and knowing the people you have working for you (what makes them tick, what will motivate them) I'd like to say it has also improved my attitude towards Uni work, i feel a lot more disciplined

Cold.... You're working in a 4 degree fridge every day!! There is loads of banter, jokes and laughs to be had, both with the warehousemen, other managers, and ops managers. The atmosphere can be quite intimidating when you first get there, as it can seem quite hostile, but once you get to know the people, you realise that youre not going to find such fun and interesting people anywhere else!!

The first 2 weeks are well organised.... you stay in a lovely hotel, get wined and dined, introduced to everyone, and get to see a lot of the different aspects of the business. After the 2 weeks, you are sort of dropped in at the deep end. I did feel like I was way out of my depth at the start, and it is difficult to train people in this environment because everything needs to be done "on the job", so you only learn how to deal with situations etc when they arise. Head office did keep in contact with me though, and I was always kept in the loop with what was happening, etc.

The company offered me so much responsibility and certain managers were so helpful when i needed help, and really showed me how to do the job well, and stood by me. I feel like a lot of people invested a lot of their time and effort into helping me, and am extremely appreciative of it, and would like to think that I paid GIST back through productivity in the last 6 months of my placement!

It seems like a fantastic place to work, with a lot of scope to move up the ranks quickly. I was offered a place on their graduate programme at the end of my placement, and look forward to getting back to it!

Not a lot of chances to go out with your colleagues, because of the shift patterns and 24/7 nature of the warehouse, but it is a very sociable place to work, and I built some really good relationships with my colleagues. I was the only placement student there, so had no interaction with regards to that.

reasonable, was able to make ends meet on my salary, it wasnt an expensive area!

Newbury is pretty bad for nightlife. full stop

Due to the shift patterns, etc. there isn't a lot of stuff that goes on outside of work activity wise