Media and Consumer Insights Assistant Review

I really enjoyed my placement within the Media & Consumer insights team at Sony Europe. I was involved in multiple tasks and projects, and saw such a wide range of Sony as a company, working with multiple departments and products. I had a great year during my placement and would recommend it to anyone interested in marketing.

I got on very well with my team, and they were always happy to answer questions, and even help my work load if needed. Not only this, colleagues outside my team, including those abroad, would respond to me as an equal and valued employee and so I always felt valued.

I was always offered support if needed, however I was also able to use my own intuition when working and so I could approach tasks with an open mind and sometimes find easier or more efficient ways of working. My manager and team were always open for me to ask for help or questions, even if they were very busy themselves.

Almost every day I was busy, but not too busy. There were a few days I had to stay late to hit deadlines, and a few days where I had much less to do. I feel as though this was not the fault of the placement as the Insights side of my job meant that about half of my workload came as and when a team within Sony would need assistance.

My role consisted of working in the Media and Insights team, and for the Insights side of this, I had full independence from start to finish of several projects. The media side also gave me lots of responsibility however the team on this side work more collaboratively in general, communicating with various stakeholders.

I feel as though all of the soft and hard skills gained at this placement will definitely assist me in my further studies. Having to communicate to multiple stakeholders across the globe has strengthened my communication skills, particularly how to communicate effectively and clearly. Not only this, working in this role has also increased my knowledge of the media side of marketing as well as insights.

Overall, the office was quite a formal place. My team specifically, as well as other teams throughout the office, had fun within our own sections, and we celebrated birthdays, brought in cakes, etc. The overall atmosphere in general however was a quite quiet one, with many people using headphones. It is worth noting that I do not have any other experience in an office, and so it may be that is is normal.

The Sony side of organisation was great, we had 4 Sony Placement Year (SPY) days throughout the year, and these were organised by the HR team who were also quick to respond to any questions that arose. I did find throughout my placement, several interns had some issues with pay (such as incorrect tax code, confusing holiday pay information) when using the third party company are responsible for setting this up for interns & contractors.

During my placement, I was able to attend several training days, as well as meetings in other offices with big companies which allowed me to get more insights in this field. Also, the SPY days that I mentioned above also really helped with my professionalisation and CV skills. Attending the meetings was more because my team actively encouraged my development, and so this is not guaranteed for all the roles.

Sony offer a graduate scheme and as far as I am aware, having done a placement means that if I apply to do this scheme, I can go through to the later stages of the recruitment process. The graduate roles also look very interesting as you rotate within different teams and so continue to gain wider knowledge.

There were about 30 interns total at Sony, split about half and half in the offices in Weybridge and Basingstoke. The social side of this was excellent, all the interns got on well and people were always up for going out and doing stuff in the day, after work or evening.

The cost of living was high because I was living near London. Not only this, Weybridge is an expensive place to go out and get food/drinks. Living close to London meant that there was always things to do, however I worked in Weybrige and this area is limited for social events.

Living close to London meant that there was always things to do, however I worked in Weybrige and this area is limited for social events. I was also living near Kingston and Wimbledon which meant that there was a good atmosphere very close to my house if I wanted to go out.

In terms of work activities, there wasn't much to get involved in. I was part of the running club, which was organised by employees who go out on a run together at lunch times once or twice a week and this as enjoyable and a great way to meet some nice people, but other than that it was limited.