Marketing Executive Review

My placement year at Tech Data was without the best experience I have ever had. Placement year in general has been invaluable to my education and in terms of personal development, but I also had a lot of fun during the year. During my placement I was part of the marketing department, getting involved in activities I never thought I would be able to be a part of- such as managing customer events from start to finish, attending exhibitions, and increasing my network with a range of people from all areas of the industry. I would 100% recommend Tech Data as an employer, from personal experience and in comparison to my peers at university who also completed placements, I without a doubt had the best year and would do it all over again if I could.

The culture of Tech Data is wonderful, everyone is so welcoming and friendly. In a Marketing role, you are liaising with other departments such as Sales and Finance on a regular basis, you get to know a lot of people from all areas of the business. During my placement year, I considered my co-workers as friends as well as work colleagues- I would say the culture/people are one of the main reasons I enjoyed my time at Tech Data as much as I did.

All managers I came into contact with, along with my director were incredibly supportive; they gave me all the training and help I needed in order for me to be efficient and perform in my role to the best of my ability. Without their support I wouldn't have been able to take on half the responsibilities I did by the end of the year with confidence. At Tech Data you're not treated as 'just an intern' you are treated as a full time employee, its a 'real' job with responsibilities that have a wider impact on the business. It gives you a true representation of what it's like to be in the 'world of work' and definitely prepares you for life after you graduate.

My role within the Marketing department gave me great variety of tasks and responsibilities. No two days were the same and I was given the flexibility to make the role as varied as I wished. I was given the freedom to prioritise my own time and was always kept busy with new challenges. I learnt not be afraid to say 'No' if my time was already being put to use elsewhere, and my manager never forced me to take on anything I didn't want to. There was a perfect work-life balance.

At the start of my placement year the responsibility was obviously smaller, but as the year progressed I was trusted with more and more, and ended up earning higher level employees trust to the point where I was running important customer events from start to finish and everything in between! By the end of my time at Tech Data I felt really empowered and felt like an extremely valued employee by demonstrating I could undertake a range of tasks and being given the opportunity to prove myself.

In my personal opinion my placement at Tech Data has been more valuable than my previous two years at university. From an educational perspective I was able to see marketing frameworks and business models in practise, which helped clarify what I had previously learnt on my course. When considering personal development, I am now able to conduct myself in a professional manner, as well as be comfortable networking with high level customers and employees. My confidence has increased massively and placement has helped me considerably in preparation for my final year at university.

Being in the Marketing department you work hand in hand with the Sales division. In my role I was lucky enough to run activities on the sales floor every week, including games, incentives and 'call out days' to drive revenue. This gave me great exposure to the office atmosphere which has a great work hard, play hard feel and an infectious sales floor buzz.

Extremely seamless from start to finish, great induction and integration into the company. The Recruitment team and HR department are brilliant and are always there to lend a hand and help you settle into your placement.

Tech Data offer endless opportunities to develop and undertake a range of training if needed. e.g. Microsoft Excel training. As well as mandatory ethical training which is always useful to familiarise yourself with for placement and for future employment.

Job opportunities within Tech Data are extremely appealing. Due to my personal love for the company, my enthusiasm for the role and marketing I was able to secure a graduate job within the marketing department for after university. Your placement year is what you make of it, therefore the more you put into the job and the company, the more they will give back to you.

Myself and the other placement students all got on really well and became our own little unit. It was really comforting knowing someone else is experiencing the same situations as you are. The company make it really easy to socialise with the other placement students with the use of a Facebook group to sort out living arrangements, and getting to know each other.

For my time at Tech Data I was based in the Basingstoke head office, as I am from the Midlands which is typically cheaper than living down South it was slightly more expensive. I lived with a friend for the duration of the year and was able to live comfortably and socialise during my time at Tech Data. As previously stated the company make a real effort to welcome you into their culture and there are numerous opportunities to socialise with co-workers.

Basingstoke has a small range of pubs, bars and clubs for socialising. Reading is 20 minutes on the train which has an even better, wider selection and London is only a short train journey away as well- So there are many options to take advantage of.

As previously stated the company offers endless opportunities to develop yourself outside of work as well as during work hours. Personally, I was able to attend a number of customer events, as well as numerous Christmas meals, evenings out, and a fiscal Year End party.