Marketing Co-ordinator Review

I didn't fine my placement too enjoyable, this was due to a number of reasons. I felt I could have had a lot more work to do day-to-day. There were many moments where I felt I could have taken on more projects and had more responsibility. I don't think I reached my full potential.

There were several moments were I definitely felt valued by some of my team members, however not all of them. I had another student on placement within my team which really helped me as I often found support from them. Outside of the team I met a lot of other Prysmian employees, however I didn't necessarily built strong relationships with them.

I feel like it was very hard to receive support and guidance from my director. I would often have to go and ask for help and support rather than it being given regularly to me. My manager worked opposite me so it was easier to ask quick questions and get feedback.

I was no where near busy enough during my placement. That is one of the main reasons I didn't find it overall enjoyable. The team I worked in was quite small so I expected to be kept busy most days. I was busy in the first few months at placement but then when the tasks became second nature, I no longer felt challenged.

I worked on a number of projects during my placement year, I was given more responsibly on some than others. I feel like I definitely could have handled more responsibility. I often felt the desire to use my own initiative but I had to run everything past my manager and my director to get approval. This slowed down my productivity.

I feel like I have learnt a lot during my placement, mainly about myself, my likes and dislikes and how I want to learn and work in the future. Some skills, for example website development, I found helpful and are definitely something I can add to my CV. However, I'm not sure they will benefit me in my future studies.

I found that there was a very big divide between the students and the permanent employees. I felt as though we were less respected. The office was often very quiet and my department felt isolated in comparison to the other departments in the office. Everyone kept to themselves, it didn't feel like a community.

The work placement felt well organised, the company has a number of students in to do work placements each year so it ran relatively smoothly. I had two weeks hand-over training with the previous student. This was helpful however I felt the training could have been longer, perhaps a week longer would have been ideal.

I only received professional training in the web-development area. The other training I received was all from the student I replaced, this was over a two week period and there was quite a lot to fit in. I felt I could have done with some basic training in Excel, InDesign, Photoshop etc.

I understand that Prysmian Group offers a graduate programme however I am not sure this opportunity would suit me. My team is very small and is mainly made up of apprentices and placement students therefore I don't think there would be an offer of a permanent role within my desired department.

There was quite a large group of placement students within Prysmian, roughly 10. This was great news as I had relocated for the job so was keen to make new friends. The students often sat together to have lunch, this so nice. I made some good friends and we would hang out together inside and outside of work.

The rent was pretty expensive for the quality of housing you would get and bills were often higher than initially expected. However, I lived in the "student area" which meant that there was cheaper shops, cafes, restaurants around that fit into a student budget. The prices of socialising were pretty standard.

I worked in a town which didn't have any nightlife, however I chose to work outside the town and instead in the nearest city. I am very happy with this decision as it meant I had a lot easier access to the nightlife. There wasn't loads of nightclub options but the ones that were there were okay.

I personally wasn't aware of any opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work. I made friends with a few of the other placement student and we would make plans together to do outside of work. I would have loved to join a sports team at work, it would have been a great way to meet more colleagues and stay active.