Marketing Assistant Review

I've really enjoyed working at ACS, the close team (of 12) means you're allowed to try your hands at all aspects of marketing from PR and communications to digital and helping at events. It's been a great year which has helped me develop all the skills I need to move onto another job and really helped me learn how to adapt at short notice

The department I worked within was so friendly and helpful; because Marketing is quite separate from sales here we became a very close unit. You don't get praised as much as I thought I would when I started, but let’s face it you're not at school so you don't get gold stars or merits anymore.

As I said, the team is such a good size because you can talk to everyone; my line manager was so approachable and in times when I just needed to talk it out my colleagues were there for me. They didn't put too much pressure on me and eased me into the role, there have been times where I've been stressed and stayed until 7pm but they're only due to my own developing time management skills.

Day to day I had tasks which needed to be completed throughout the day, they were things like online enquiries, stories for the intranet and updating spreadsheets. Each day can vary in other roles, there's been days where I've been helping out at a show in Munich and London, to running round taking photos of the staff for Red Nose Day, to delivering client gifts to the brokers and of course there's the more mundane days where you're in jeans organising the stock cupboard, but there's never a dull day with the team.

At the start they eased me in, with daily tasks and an on-going task to meet the brokers and heads of different departments, this was quite scary but I knew it was to help me grown confident talking to peers and start to understand the company, the departments and how it works.

When I was about 3 months into the placement I felt I hadn't learnt anything at uni which would be relevant, and I do still feel that way a bit. You can't really be taught from a book how to handle certain situations, how to do certain things such as spreadsheets, competitor analysis through google analytics and AdWords, how to write a brief and dissect pitches... I'm excited to go back to university to have one last year of freedom, but I'm also excited to have another full time job in a different industry.

The office is pretty relaxed, you can wear 'smart casual' which is nice because you don't want to spend a fortune on buying clothes for the office! The whole London office is split over 3 floors and you get to know people through lunch, or projects or just other people introducing you. The drinks on Friday nights also help! There's a good mix of males, females, ages and specialisms which is really nice because you can always find someone who can answer your questions.

Because I'm about the fifth year they've had a placement student it was run like a well oiled-machine. The previous year had two students, so at times I did feel like I had a bit too much work, but I could speak to my manager and she would help me prioritise my work load.

You're given basic HR, Marketing and other training in your first few weeks, I was also given Excel, outlook and other IT training such as phones, skype etc. just as a boost as I usually use Macs and had a two-screen windows set up at my desk so I just needed a few quick lessons. They're also helping me take my Google AdWords test which I asked to do as part of my appraisal, they're really helpful and keen for you to get as much out of it as you can.

They've just hired back last years intern, which is great! But as the department is still quite small I don't think there will be room for me to return, but as they're growning quickly there might be in the next few years.

I was the only placement student this year, but usually they have a few. I got on really well with several people from various departments, the friday night drinks, christmas do's leaving do's and various nights out for people are a great way to meet people you work with and the Marketing Nights out were a great way to relax with the people you work with over dinner etc.

Because we're in Surbiton and on the outskirts of greater london it's not too bad locally, or even in Kingston (where we ventured occasionally). Most nights see us head up to London but again as it's not too often it's ok to spend the money.

Surbiton isn't really a buzzing metropolis, but Kingston (a bus ride away) is fine!

There are football clubs (girls and boys) and a fitness bootcamp going on, but if you like a certain sport I'm sure you could float the idea and some others would join you!