Assistant Development Manager General Merchandise Review

I have really enjoyed my placement year. Waitrose have been a great employer to work for as they have given me lots of responsibility and given me lots of opportunities.

The partnership ensure that all their employees are valued and that their opinion is listen too. My personal experience is that I was very much valued and that my role was essential to the business - I didn't just feel like the 'placement student'.

I was given lots of support and guidance by my manager. They were very understanding that this was my first full time office job. I had regular catch ups with my manager where we discussed my objectives, and what projects I was working.

Its is inevitable that work load varies and I found this quite a bit throughout the first few months of placement. Some weeks I was really busy and some weeks I didn't have much on at all. My manager purposefully didn't want to overwhelm me as they wanted to understand how much workload I could take. Once I settled into my role my workload is constant with some peaks, which I enjoy.

I was given lots of responsibility during my placement year which I really valued. I was able to present my opinions and ideas and run with some of them. I was also given projects which were soley mine, therefore, I was responsible for completing it to the best standard.

Throughout my placement year everything I have done and the skills that I have developed I will value for life. I feel as though I am now much more employable with the skills and knowledge I have obtained. I feel alot more prepared and confident to take on the world of work once I graduate with this year under me.

The atmosphere in the office was a good balance of hard work and good fun. I had alot of fun in my office, but also everyone understood and accepted when people needed to concentrate and get work done.

My placement job was well organised, I knew roughly what I would be doing when I first started. The actual placement scheme, however, I personally feel was not so organised. We were meant to have 5 development days, however, due to restructuring of the business we did not hear about these days until half way through our placement. As a result this only meant we had 4 development days - which were well organised and structured.

The partnership have a huge focus on personal development. Personal development became one of my personal objectives. Throughout my year some of the things I did for my personal development included an IGD conference, BOBI training and a difficult conversations seminar.

The graduate scheme is currently on freeze, however, there are opportunities to enter the business not on the graduate scheme.

I lived with 5 others on placement at Waitrose and I loved it! I couldn't have asked for a better house, I feel as though it has helped to make my year. As for the placement students who I didn't live with they would often come round and we would organise to do things such as: nights out, Ascot, Dublin holiday, Weekends away etc.

As head office is located in the south the cost of renting is more expensive than where I am at University (Newcastle). This year I have paid £500 a month + bills. The social side of living in the house with follow placement students has been great. One thing which I would have liked would have been to have the option to go for drinks after work, however, Bracknell is not really set up for this.

The nightlife in Reading has been adequate for my placement year. I have been out in Reading numerous times with my housemates and placement students. The nights have been great fun mainly down to the people I went out with. There are about 3/4 main clubs in Reading and lots of nice bars to go to.

The partnership have lots of societies and clubs such as the sailing club. There are also partnership hotels where you can stay for a discounted rate. I have stayed at the leckford lodges this year with others on placement which was a great weekend.