Cruise Trading Assistant Review

I have absolutely loved my placement year at TUI! It is such a great company to work for and the amount that I've learned in just a year is incredible. You will get a lot of responsibility and opportunities for development but there will always someone that you can ask for support if you feel like you need it. I would really recommend a placement at TUI if you are passionate about the travel industry, enjoy a challenge and have a work hard play hard attitude.

I felt very valued by my colleagues and this is mostly because the role that placements get are roles that would otherwise have to be filled with permanent staff. I never felt like I was treated differently compared to the others because I was a placement.

I was given a lot of support and guidance from my line manager, our team's senior manager and the placement scheme team as well. There is a thorough induction plan for when you join the company and then there are regular catch-ups with your manager and the placement scheme if you need any more guidance or support.

I would say that most of the time I felt busy but there was enough time in the day to finish all my work. Of course there were some times of the year where I was busier than usual, such as in September and January, which are our key sales months. However, overall I'd say that there is a good balance of the amount of work and the amount of time that you have to complete your work.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement and had a lot of opportunities to make pricing and business decisions about the season that I was trading. I also felt like there were enough extra project opportunities that I got involved in and this is where I really felt like the responsibility was big considering that I was just a placement student.

I feel like I developed a lot of skills and I definitely feel that I am going to use these when I am back at university and in my future career. TUI also provided us with a lot of extra training sessions, such as a presentation workshop, Excel workshop, etc.

As TUI is a holiday company, the atmosphere in the office is very relaxed and friendly. The office is very open and looks modern, with a lot of spaces to have formal and informal meetings, grab a coffee, etc. There is always something going on and the general atmosphere in the office is work hard play hard.

Overall, the work placement was organised very well and I always felt like I could rely on the support from the placement scheme team. The placement scheme team is actually a group of people from the Commercial department at TUI, which is a bit different from other companies, where the schemes are ran by HR. I think that the scheme being ran by people from Commercial makes it great because the placement scheme team are helping out with the scheme in addition to their day-to-day roles and they really care about our learning and development.

TUI really invests in the training and development for the placements. During my placement I was lucky to attend a variety of workshops such as a presentation skills workshop, an Excel workshop and a personal development workshop. I also got encouraged to spend time in other departments in order to get an idea of TUI as a whole and I spent half days in Finance, Flight Trading and Crystal Ski. Overall, TUI provides you with a number of development opportunities and you will be encouraged to create a Personal Development Plan in order to take ownership of your own development and set out goals for what you want to achieve in your placement year.

TUI, being one of the leading travel companies in the world, provides numerous career opportunities in the UK and abroad. I really want to come back to TUI after finishing university and the graduate scheme that appeals to me the most is the International Graduate Leadership Programme that is actually ran by TUI Germany. I am definitely considering applying for this scheme and the mock assessment centre that we've had at the end of my placement has made me feel more prepared for when I apply for the graduate for real.

The social scene at TUI is awesome! There are a lot of young people that work at TUI and there is always someone that is up for going out or doing something after work. Since there was only 7 of us placement students, we all got on quite well and socialised even after work. There are also regular team socials, meals out, nights out, sport events and work trips.

Luton is quite cheap so living costs were relatively low considering the proximity to London. The cost of socialising was a bit higher because we tended to go to Harpenden, St. Albans or London, which is slightly more expensive. The social life was really good though and your salary should cover your living and socialising costs just about fine.

There is no nightlife in Luton but as I mentioned above, we usually went out in St Albans or London, since it's only a short train journey away. The work nights out were always such good fun and I'd say that I probably went out more this year than I went out in second year of uni!

Yes there were plenty of things going on all the time! I got involved in the TUI Netball Team in the beginning of the year and that was a really fun way to meet other people from the office. You can also join the choir, get involved in the TUI bake-off, charity events, etc. There are also a lot of fun socials being organised all the time, for example we went to a trampoline park with my team once!