Late Trading Assistant Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my year at TUI, it is a great company to work for with many different perks as well as a friendly & social office atmosphere.

The people at TUI really do make the placement. Despite being a placement student, you are given the same responsibility and treated exactly like a full-time employee. Everyone at TUI are all passionate about travel and are all great to work with.

My managers this year have been brilliant. They really have helped me develop and pushed me to not only enjoy my year how I want to but also supported me throughout. We have regular 1 to 1 catch ups and you really to see that they care about you not only as an employee but also a person.

As a trader, you do have your very busy periods but also the slower periods as the booking trends of customers change throughout the year (quietest pre-Christmas, extremely busy Jan & Feb). However, despite the periods where you are busy, I was still really enjoying my role and learnt to deal with the added workload & pressure of the job which is something I hadn't been exposed to previously.

As mentioned earlier, the responsibility you are given is huge. You are given specific resorts or geographical areas to manage and you are entirely in charge of ensuring these resorts are traded in a profitable way, as well as making sure you sell as many seats as possible on your flights. I was also in charge of recovering over £60million worth of hotel commitment so quite a lot of responsibility!

I think one of the key skills I have developed over the past year is learning how to manage my time more effectively. Prior to my placement, I hadn't been the best at managing my workload and had often had a late night coursework session rushing through to meet deadlines. This year however, I have stuck to being a lot more organised and will be taking this forward for next year. Training-wise, there is a specific learning & development team as part of the placement scheme which arranges workshops such as presentation skills which are a real benefit as well as other development opportunities the business offer.

The office atmosphere is brilliant. It really is a friendly & laidback atmosphere which is set in an open plan seating arrangement. Despite this, it is still a professional atmosphere and everyone is in a similar mind-set of striving for good results.

I do think that the organisation and structure of the placement scheme at TUI really is exactly how these placement schemes should be run. The scheme is managed by previous placements who understand what it is like to be in our position. They spend weeks planning and organising our training schedules ready for us to arrive and the training period really benefits you as it is at the correct pace. Throughout the year you are given different projects & workshops which are generally based outside of your day-to-day role and allows you to meet and present to new people from around the business, more recently presenting to the director of Thomson Airways!

Personally, the placement scheme & business really to put a lot of effort and investment in developing you. You are given the opportunity to attend workshops on different skill areas such Excel & presentation skills. There are also company specific workshops such as product development and yield management. Not only think but the company organises learning weeks where you are able to attend taster sessions & listen to guest speakers from companies such as TripAdvisor & Facebook.

The future job prospects at TUI are excellent. As part of the placement scheme, you are given a fast-track onto the graduate scheme's assessment centre but also an opportunity to have mock interviews to prepare for this. For me personally, I wanted to come back into my role as a late trader and was lucky to have been offered a job ready for after I finish uni which I have accepted. Again, these are excellent opportunities and has been brilliant for me in that I do not have to worry about searching for jobs next year!

The social side of TUI is quality. It really is the perfect transition between student life & work life in that there is always something going on, whether it is a party, meal or just a drink in the pub on a Friday!

The cost of living in Luton was actually cheaper than living at uni which was great, especially with getting a wage come through also! However, with the nightlife in Luton not being the best, most of our socialising was in St Albans or London which isn't the cheapest.

As mentioned above, the nightlife in Luton is far from great but the access into London is perfect with a train taking just 25mins. There are also some good clubs in St Albans as well as bars there and in Harpenden nearby./

There are a wide variety of different activities you can get involved in when working at TUI. These range from rounder's & dodge ball tournaments to volunteering to help in the community in different ways. As well as this, the placement projects you are involved in throughout the year often involve visiting various different locations.