Sales and Market Analyst Review

The placement was very fun, I was allowed the freedom to try new things and get involved in different parts of the business. I also really enjoyed the social aspect of the placement, the office is very social with 8 other placement students in the year as well as a good young community of workers which are regularly organising social events

From day one I was handed real responsibility for the tasks which I completed and was recognised for doing this. From working within a relatively small team my contribution toward the team was realised almost instantly. I was never treated as an 'intern' in my time and was not thought of as being below another employee.

I felt the support I gained was good. Each member of my team supported me throughout. At the beginning I was supported a lot and felt comfortable from this, the support gradually decreased over time as I become more competent which suited me. The only issue I found with my support is that as I become specialised in certain IT skills which I had picked up I became the most knowledgeable in these skills and therefore could not receive support for this, which I felt wasn't right and there should have been someone within the company which had more advanced IT skills than me.

I worked directly with my line manager on most of my tasks. By doing this I was able to discuss with him daily what I was working on and he was able to help me prioritise tasks and help me complete tasks when I was particularly busy. He also assisted me when I had a less work to complete by giving me extra things to work on.

As previously stated, I was given responsibility straight away. for instance, I had monthly reports which I created for the view of all the managers which I was solely responsible for. I also had a high amount of responsibility in organising a cross-selling system where employees were rewarded for passing over leads to other employees

Whilst, the knowledge I gained did not have anything to do with my academic studies directly I learned a lot of skills which I will be able to carry over to my degree and future career. I gained important skills such as concentration retention, communication, teamwork, analysis and most importantly to help with my degree good organisational skills.

Whilst everyone understands they have a job to do, and they must do that job to a certain standard the office is very friendly and social. I felt in my time I was able to talk to anybody in the office whether that be about work or leisure. This is helped by the office structure where they operate an activity based working system where anyone can sit at any desk, this way you end up sitting with new people everyday.

When I joined there was a specific role which I had to complete which I did complete for the entirety of the year. However, I felt that I outgrew this role relatively quickly and because of this, my role developed throughout my year. However, In my year I was able to have input into the job specifications for the next year, which I believe are now better set up.

During my time, I was offered certain training such as access to IT training systems, specific product training and visits outside of the office on sales trips. I benefitted a lot from these experiences. however, I felt I missed out some development which could have been made available to me, for instance, I requested to go on a communication course to improve my communication skills as I had to speak to customers regularly but I never gained this opportunity.

The company does not offer graduate courses, because of this there is not an obvious pathway to continue at the company after placement year. With that being said, there is evidence of previous placement students which now work for the company as their skills have been recognised. Atlas Copco is a company which if it sees potential within an individual they will try their utmost to find a place for you, but this is not guaranteed.

The social scene within the company was good. I regularly would meet with work colleagues outside of work to do social activities. With a large community in the company, you are able to find people who share similar interests to you and socialise with them. There are also multiple other placement students and a strong structure in place for you to get to know all of them.

The placement is located in Hertfordshire, Hemel Hempstead. As this is located near London costs of living are slightly inflated, but not to the point where socialising is not an option. Most people live nearby as well and that makes it very easy to meet up with people regularly if you live locally yourself.

The placement is located in Hemel Hempstead which is an okay area for pubs and bars, if you are looking for something a bit more interesting there is the neighbouring city of St. Albans which is very good with the most bars per person of any city in the UK and a few clubs, although it is more expensive. Also, London is only a 30-minute train away so that is another option.

In the year I was there the placement students set up a 5 a side football team which I played in once a week. As well as this my group of friends at work regularly met up informally. I am unsure about other activities you can get involved in as I never felt the need to.