Marketing Assistant Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement at 3M. It was a valuable use of my time and enabled me to develop the learning I had gained from university in a real world work environment. No day was the same and the concept of becoming a working adult for a year was very rewarding.

Constantly valued by my colleagues in the way they trusted me to complete tasks on time and expected results. It felt good that the work I was completing was clearly important to the development of the business. Continued reassurance and praise helped me understand when I was doing a good job and when I could improve.

Despite my manager moving on half way through my placement I was able to be given the opportunity to develop my own skills in self management and became very much an independent workers. Setting myself targets to achieve in order to maintain momentum through the working day.

The extent of how much work I had to complete on certain days was varied. It mattered how well I could manage my time as to how filled my work load could possibly be on daily basis. This helped me learn vital skills of time management. I never wanted to have nothing to do and would not advise having 5 projects to complete on the same day either.

I was given the responsibility to manage two products during my year on placement. This meant not just agreeing price constraints and establishing forecasts for the product but also supporting the sales team with providing tools and tips to sell. The responsibility from being allowed to drive a high end hire car to managing the portfolio was varied and awesome.

Nothing quite prepares you for entering the working world other than entering the working world. The skills I have learnt on this year of placement will help support my final year of study indefinitely. It has also given me perspective to applying for graduate roles as I am a lot more aware of the work I enjoy and would like to do in the future.

It is a fun and bubbly office. Other employees are always smiling and happy to help you with any task or end goal. There is a collaborative approach which is really inspiring, I hope to find similar mentalities in other work place environments.

The internship was organised well with frequent training and interim opportunities. it was great to meet and learn from other IPs from across the country. The level of support could have been improved with potentially more catch ups or times to reflect throughout the year, but generally worked well.

The company would never refuse the opportunity for us to embark on another training scheme or programme that would invite us to develop furthers skills to bring benefit to the business. If you could justify the reason behind attending such training then it would be likely to be approved.

Not high. There were rumours from the start about a hiring freeze across 3M and this didn't necessary bode well for the rest of us. The increased employment of contract workers and the drop in full time permanent employees gave a sense of questioning about future careers in 3M. Although it would be great to return this apprehension played a role.

Yes there was a keen sense of wanting to get to know each other outside of work. This involved taking the time to organise social events for us to mix and increase our social circles. Through sports activities, after work drinks and the general mood to celebrate birthdays with a pub lunch it meant we were able to interact with colleagues often.

The cost of living in Reading was relatively high for the quality of living that we were provided with. However due to the university the cost of socialising potentially dropped. Additionally as we were working with a wage we felt a little bit 'richer' and could afford to splash out a bit more.

The nightlife was very hit and miss. Depending on what sort of event you wished to attend would influence the quality of your night. Being a student area there was opportunity to get out with the young crowd on a Saturday night at union which was enjoyable.

Yes, from cake sales to netball and touch rugby opportunities. The other 'extra circular' level of events was quite high at 3M. We were able to mix across departments and divisions dependant on our enjoyed past times. This meant there was a possibility to never have a dull moment and you could really try to get involved!