Management Trainee Review

Although I found the first few weeks very challenging due to the sheer volume of information and responsibility that you are given I soon adapted and flourished leading meetings with colleagues and new potential business partners.

At ERAC your placement year will be spent working in two local branches. Branches generally have anywhere from 5 to 12 staff, because of this you tend to develop close bonds within your team.

From the day you start at ERAC you are assigned a personal mentor who has worked in the business for several years and will have been in the exact same position as you at one stage in their Enterprise career as one of USP's of a career at ERAC is that the business only promotes from within and therefore promotions happen rapidly and frequently.

If you are looking for an easy ride then a placement at ERAC isn't right for you. Enterprise is a fast paced business that requires staff to be flexible and multitask.

From the first day that you go into branch you are assigned a set of accounts that you are expected to look after and grow. In addition to this you will be given a specific, measurable area of the business that it is your job to look after and control. Each branch at ERAC is responsible for making its own profit and due to the small teams that you have in branches, you real feel that you have a direct effect on this from day 1.

Although you are taught theories and models at university you get very little exposure to what real life business is all about, making money and how to make money in business. At ERAC you also go out with the rest of the team at your branch for a statement meal, where you discuss the business performance in the previous month, how to improve it and network.

Due to the fast paced nature of business it is rare that everyone will be in the branch at the same time, however there are that many things that happen during the day at ERAC there is always something to talk and laugh about. Days at ERAC can seem long on paper however the time simply flies by as you are meeting new people on a daily basis.

I applied to several placement organisations on the same day, some replied, some didn't. The average response time was around 3 to 4 weeks for most organisations but not Enterprise who contacted me within 72 hours to arrange a suitable time for an interview. Once I was through the selection process I was invited down to the regional head office where the year ahead was mapped out to me with start dates, finish dates, branch locations etc.

As I touched on in my previous answer, from day one at Enterprise you are assigned a personal mentor from within the business who will be your first port of call for any problems or struggles that you may be having. In addition to this ERAC also have 3 stage tests throughout your first year which are designed to put what you have learnt about the business on a day to day basis to the test. The tests are the prerequisites for the MQI test which is your Management Qualification Interview.

At ERAC promotions only happen from within so at no point will you have promoted into a senior position from an external recruitment source. Enterprise is opening 5 new branches in the West Midlands alone in the next 6 months and therefore is growing rapidly. As your ERAC career progresses you have the opportunity to diversify into a specific role should you want to such as accounting, marketing etc.

Although there are lots of placements students at ERAC there are generally never more than one placement student in a branch. That said the majority of employees at ERAC are young and newly graduated so the vibe is fresh and dynamic.

I decided to live at home during my placement year and worked at two local branches so I was aware of the social scene in my area due to my childhood friends living locally. Therefore, I had a great work life balance and the cost of living was relatively cheap due to the area I live in.

Working on the outskirts of Birmingham meant that nights out were often on Broad Street or in Brindley Place, both of which are absolutely buzzing and reasonably priced on a Friday and Saturday night. My first branch also had a good selection of real ale pubs locally which was brilliant for me being a beer drinker.

During my year at ERAC I participated in a 100 mile cycle ride around the West Midlands for a local charity. ERAC is huge on giving back to the communities that we live and work in and therefore there are almost weekly opportunities to participate in activities such as the three peaks challenge, pride etc.