Marketing & Sales Support Review

3M is a great company to work for in terms of providing personal development and opportunities. It’s extremely friendly and people orientated environment is a great place to learn and grow with a relaxed atmosphere and flexible working hours. Overall I found my placement year at 3M challenging yet enjoyable.

I felt extremely valued by both my immediate team and the wider 3M community that I worked closely with during my year. My colleagues were very good to praise and support one another and will always be happy to drop their own work and help each other out when necessary.

During my placement year I reported to two different managers and discovered that I was given much more support and guidance by one than the other. However in both cases I definitely felt that I could go to either when I was not sure of something or needed an opinion.

My day to day workload varied dramatically as it was based on what other people needed from me. Some days I would be swamped but could rely on my team to support me if necessary. It was my responsibility to get my own work when I first started so I found it a good representation of how well I was doing.

I felt I was given a lot of responsibility within certain areas of my workload. Within our team each person was given a particular field that they were the first point of call and expert for. However within my job role I think the amount of responsibility I could take on was capped.

I was very fortunate to receive training and skills in lots of areas that relate to my degree, such as presenting, excel, time management, dealing with change, social media and networking. I also think that doing a placement has armed me with the softer skills that will be necessary for a graduate job.

The general atmosphere within the office is quite relaxed and friendly but you can tell that everyone is working away quietly. There are different areas within the office for formal meetings, casual brainstorming and individual quiet time if necessary. I feel like there is a movement to create more areas of fun within the office which I think would be a good addition.

There was about 15 placement students all based in the same office so it was nice for us to all socialise together. The majority of us all had lunch together every day and lived with a few of the other placement students. People were usually up to go for a pub lunch or a few drinks during the week.

The nightlife in the immediate area wasn’t anything to write home about but as the office was about a 10 minute drive from the local university and 3/4 placement students were students there we made the most of the students union and other student nights out in a nearby town.

There is an office sport and social club that are really good at putting on events and entertainment for the office such as Bonfire night and a Christmas party. They also have sports teams in lots of local leagues such as netball, football and touch rugby. You have the opportunity to start your own team in any sport you wish as well!