Assistant Manager Review

My work placement was good and I worked in a very good team. I received more responsibilities towards the end of the year. Overall, I had a good experience which developed my skills and helped me define what I want to do in the future. However, I would have liked more trainings opportunities and being more involved in decision making processes.

I worked within a small team that valued me and gave me responsibilities, they involved me in a diverse range of projects and trusted me with my work. However, at a company scale, we were not given the same opportunities in terms of trainings, responsibilities and involvement in projects as others because we only stayed there a year.

I was given good support at the beginning of the year by my manager, where she explained in details and responded to my questions, taking time off her schedule. I also had a three-week handover with the intern I replaced which gave me a lot of guidance. In terms of training, it was limited and concentrated at the beginning of the year.

I had busier periods than others, but I usually would be busy, due to the fact that I asked for more work and that I tried to be involved in different projects. I also had to think of more things to do, such as improving processes, even though it was not required.

I was given responsibility throughout the placement, and more depending on busy periods such as product launch and needs of the business. Although I felt trusted by my colleagues, I would have liked more responsibility including decision-making towards the end of the placement as I felt comfortable in my role.

This placement year made me develop skills such as communication and computer literacy, especially on Excel, which will be helpful both at university and for future jobs. Additionally, it helped me define what I would like to do as a graduate, in terms of the industry, the type of job and positions.

People were nice and always helpful, the office is an open-plan so it was easy to communicate with people but it was sometimes noisy. However, departments do not work much together, so there are a lot of people that I did not meet. The office is brand-new, modern and spacious.

The work placement was well-organised at the beginning (first two months), with few trainings, a handover period and some HR induction. Afterwards, it was not as organised, as trainings were lacking and feedback was not often taken from us. As we stayed one year, we would have liked more training.

The company invested in us at the beginning, with trainings and HR induction. However, I felt less involved in trainings and developments throughout the year than my other colleagues. Therefore, I had to self-teach myself some skills (such as computer literacy on Excel). Through our feedback, new interns have now more training.

There is a graduate scheme for which we can have a fast-track access to it, however it is open to everyone and they take much less graduates than interns, therefore meaning the prospects are limited for us.

We were 20 interns so we always had people to talk to and have lunch with. Because we were so many, we did not do things all together, but we did in smaller groups.

Cost of living was high because it is close to London but it meant that we had the opportunity to discover and explore the city!

London being close, it was good when we went there.

I didn't get involved in weekly activities (there is football, rugby and pilates available) but I got to work at different events (Color Run, Goodwood Festival), and attend some others (The Big Feastival, Dacia Magic Weekend).