European Marketing and Sales Assistant Review

I have absolutely loved my placement here at Sony in Basingstoke. I have learnt a tremendous amount and thoroughly enjoyed my role, and working within my team. I would definitely recommend my role to anyone interested in Marketing / Communications as you have contact with many groups across the marketing platform and a wholesome view of strategies and sales.

I have always been treated with a great deal of respect, patience and kindness amongst my colleagues. Everyone at Sony is very kind, reasonable and welcoming. I have never felt shafted with rubbish jobs and have always been given legitimate work and treated like a full-time employee. My team are brilliant and encouraging.

I have worked closely with my manager all year, with meetings every week to see how I'm getting on and what my workload is like. My manager has encouraged I speak to others across the platform to gain insights within different teams and to better understand our processes and products/solutions. She has always checked my work and given constructive feedback when necessary, allowing me to learn from her.

This varied massively depending on the time of year and whether we had any big tradeshows coming up. To begin my workload was minimal but as I got going in my role it expanded to cover various tasks as my responsibility grew. I was never needing to stay late and always made time for lunch.

I was given a manageable level of responsibility throughout my placement, I was able to coordinate certain projects with other teams in the office but this was always followed up by my manager who would regularly check in and support if need be. I was able to create things myself and feel I had freedom whilst also having the reassurance that my manager was reviewing my work

The year has been invaluable, from the basics of learning how an office operates and internal communications, to using CRM platforms like Salesforce, I have learnt a lot. I feel much better equipped to enter the working world and feel confident in my ability to obtain a job and feel worthy of it. Whilst the year has been my first full-time role, and therefore a lot of learning has been done, and mistakes made, I am more confident in my communication. I also feel happy to contribute my opinions when previously I'd have assumed they were incorrect.

The office here in Basingstoke is both quiet but welcoming. As I said previously everyone is very friendly and you can easily head over to speak to someone at their desk without feeling uncomfortable. The office is open plan but relatively quiet, which suits my working style. Whilst people do join calls at their desks it has never bothered me as people keep to a respectable volume.

Outside of my role and my managers management (which was great) the SPY programme (Sony Placement Year) could have been run slightly better. Throughout the year we have 4 SPY days where we could meet with the other interns from the Weybridge office and discuss various career development topics. Outside of these days I didn't hear from those who run the programme. Some of us felt that the days were a waste of time sometimes as they were usually brief but mostly focussed on socialising. The last of these was very helpful however as we discussed our CVs and were given advice on how to improve them. The days are important to mingle with the other interns but I did not feel I gained much from them, excluding the last.

I feel my team ensured I was always included in trainings and encouraged me to seek out more information on any topics that I was interested in. I was able to learn a lot through attending team meetings and being included in decision making discussions. Exposure to the wider business group at tradeshows was also invaluable in my understanding of the wider business so I have been grateful for having been included on those trips.

I would certainly go back to Sony as they look after their employees well and have been a great company to work for.

There was a social scene between the group of interns within the office however this was definitely initiated by us ourselves, as opposed to encouraged by any extra curricular activities provided by Sony. A few of us lived together which made it easier to socialise together. From a work perspective I am the only intern I know of to socialise with their team. We have often got a group together for drinks on a Friday night which has been really nice.

Rent averages 400-700 a month and most interns have lived in Basingstoke making it a short drive to work or a free work bus trip. Baisngstoke is also very well connected with just a 35 min train into Clapham.

Unfortunately the nightlife in Basingstoke is not thriving, however we have made do with the Wetherspoons etc. There is 1/2 clubs, namely 'Fever' which we (as interns) have been to a few times but nothing huge! If you like a cosy pub then Basingstoke is for you, but don't expect a thriving night life.

Other than those planned by the interns and my colleagues, I haven't been aware of much social activities. I know there is a football club within the office but that it all I am aware of. It does feel as though you need to be proactive in making your own plans as their doesn't seem to be a huge social hub within the office itself.