Undergraduate Marketing executive Review

I came into Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) with a positive mindset, looking to apply practice to the theory I studied at University as a Business Management & Marketing student. This placement allowed me to do this, exposing me to the 'real life' application of Marketing in the car finance industry, whilst also providing some awareness to the considerations that marketing this type of product to consumers requires under regulation from the Financial Conduct Authority. I thoroughly enjoyed this exposure to the legal side of things as it brought another dynamic to the work I engaged in and also got me interested in regulation in a wider context, as it heavily underpins what Marketers can and are able to do. I also really enjoyed getting involved with the creating & updating of digital and print materials, working closely with agencies to see the work through. Also enjoying a trip with another undergraduate to one of their offices, in which we were given further exposure to the work they do (agency side perspective). Lastly, what I enjoyed about my placement was the ability to meet some incredible people. Starting with the undergraduates, you meet (and may also live with) many students studing a range of subjects, which are often the talking points, alongside that of work, this can encourage you to learn and find out more about what they do and also how it fits into their placement. Next, you have the Marketing team, which has a number of incredibly experienced individuals, who are incredibly passionate about their individual brands. Each person in the team has a unique personality and are great resources to tap into! You'll be pushed but also lead every step of the way, which provides a great challenge but the benefits to your development are invaluable. Overall, I enjoyed my year and gained alot of experience, improving myself as a person and also understanding what it is truly like to work in a corporate culture. Moreover, the work I have engaged in working with various brands and projects should put in my good stead to be able to differentiate myself in a competitve graduate job market.

As always with trust, it is earned over time and by proving your worth. However, once you are able to establish yourself, you are certainly valued by your team. You'll be given plenty of responsibility to reflect this and will have complete responsibility of how it's handled and its completion. You'll highly be expected to be a self-starter, show initiative, creativity and be meticulous. The growth and demand placed upon the Marketing department increase every year, therefore your role will be crucial in its support to help your fellow colleagues providing assistance wherever you can.

You are given support and guidance all the way through your placement, Any concerns, if they do crop up, can be discussed with your line manager who should be able to help you resolve any issues. You also have weekly 1-1 meetings where concerns or questions can be bought up which provides a great opportunity to delve into things further.

You are kept very busy! There are no doubts about that. However, particularly with Marketing, you are supporting a team that is continuously being stretched, especially coming into the peak periods of the year (end of every quarter). Moreover, you are being kept busy doing things that are beneficial to the team and helping to ease the workload. This does provide a sense of fulfilment and makes you understand how valuable you are to the team as a whole.

As aforementioned in the previous question about feeling valued. You are given plenty of responsibility. On numerous occasions I was given the responsibility to: compile research into car finance, create end to end processes, take & issue briefs to agencies, given hard deadlines for the completion and issuance of digital and print materials. I was also given full access to a platform called 'Smart Edit' which is used to change customers letters and used a program called 'Digi' to send out communications to 1000+ workforce and also sent out communications to the Bentley retailer network. These are only a few examples, however, I believe they do illustrate the level of responsibility you are able to work upto and quite quickly also.

The skills developed over the course of the placement have proved to be invaluable to both my degree and securing employment following my placements conclusion. Particularly, the aspect of learning to manage your time, working to strict deadlines and the meticulousness you bring to your work, all transferred back to my degree and helped me hit the ground running very quickly which has been vital to my final year. Moreover, entering a new job following this placement, it gives you so much confidence in your abilities and you feel as though you are able to bring some expertise and relevant experience into another job role which is a positive feeling. Overall, I would say both the training and development provided by the placement really set you up in a position to build upon a solid foundation you create during your time at VWFS.

The atmosphere within the office is very corporate with a strong sense of the business culture and values running through the organization. People are often very friendly and do make a lot of time for you considering the relatively busy nature of the VWFS work-life. Teams tend to have strong relationships which can make for a pleasant working life and that is fun, engaging and makes you feel like a valued member of the team. Referring back to the values - Courage, Customer, Responsibility, Trust & Enthusiasm. I would say these qualities mainly underpin the behaviors of the staff in the office.

Following my training period, the rest of the placement was well constructed. Every day I had a comprehensive understanding of my objectives and specific targets that I should be working towards. Further development came through compulsory training sessions over the course of the placement. However, aside from that, any further personal development was down to you, but there were plenty of opportunities for you to take advantage if you decided to seek out the responsibility.

As mentioned previously, I was provided with training in the form of a two week induction period, online training and training course over the placement. VWFS do invest in you by providing these opportunities and more over the course of the year, continually providing further training courses and online training to contribute further to your personal development.

Further employment prospects within the organization look promising as there are examples of people who have started as undergraduates and worked their way up the organization. Moreover, during my placement I also witnessed colleagues being given the opportunity to join management training programmes to further their career aspirations within VWFS, which I found to be a promising indication of the companies approach to employees employment prospects.

There is a good social scene with VWFS, with a few events taking place across the year particularly during the summer period of the year.Moreover, often with your team, you will find that your team may organize the occasional social or celebrate birthdays which provide a great opportunity to bond and have some fun time with your team outside of work. The same can be said for fellow placement students, more often than not you live with some of them which makes socialising much more convenient and easier. Moreover, you may venture out with your fellow placement students on the weekends which also provides fun opportunities to socialise.

The cost of living and socialising was relatively low and fairly priced (however, this is from somebody who has lived in London their entire life). Overall, rental costs were not too expensive once settled. However, the initial payment of a deposit and a months rent was costly and should be something to bare in mind if you are relocating as this may set you back initially. Aside from that, things are reasonably priced and it does not cost much to socialise at all, with a range of options including; various restaurants, cinemas, snow dome and other activities.

The nightlife in Milton Keynes is generally ok, it is not particularly great but there are a few different things to do. I guess if you are going with undergraduates and your team, then you will probably make the best and it can be pretty fun. However, in terms of nightclubs, there is not a huge array of choice with about 3-5 nightclubs that I can recall from memory. A personal highlight was Pink Punters, which was a club/ bar that stayed open until 6AM in the morning and on the occasion was a very decent night out. Overall, don't expect to be mindblown, but it's certainly not the worst!

There were plenty of opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work with various sports teams in Milton Keynes, which included; rugby, football, and hockey teams. These teams are very welcoming, accommodating to individuals of different ages and skill levels, providing a great way to settle into Milton Keynes and also meet new people which can with the socalising aspect of settling into Milton Keynes. Also through VWFS, you could easily get involved in working with the Willen Hospice on the weekends participating in various volunteering activities.