Account specialist Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement. I was positioned in the North West which was very great and the team I worked with were very supportive and ensured I learnt as much as possible in the time I had there. They involved me in all aspects of Human Resources and recruitment from sifting through CVs to assisting with disciplinaries so the exposure I gained was incredible and has really helped me decide more on my future career path.

All my colleagues seemed to value my thoughts and opinions at all times and allowed me to ask as many questions as needed in order to ensure I fully understood what I needed to do and what I was learning. This was clear as they gave me independent tasks early on in my placement year showing they valued me as membeR of the team and trusted me to be able to complete whatever is necessary.

I was given plenty of support from my line manager and the senior account manager. Even though I was working on site and therefore didn’t see the managers very often, they were always keen to check in on me and ensure I was comfortable and that I wasn’t having any problems or queries. When I did have queries they were quick to respond and make me feel at ease and able to get back to work as normal.

For the first 8 months I was always very busy with lots of work and was given the opportunity to work across 2 sites to gain exposure to the blue and white collar environment. However, as the COVID-19 situation occurred the work decreased rapidly due to reduction of workers and eventual site closing down. As a result I was released and later furloughed due to there not being enough work and therefore didn’t get to finish my final 3 months.

I was given a lot of responsiblity on my placement by running the sites alone when my colleagues were on holiday or covering different sites. This meant I was the first response to any issues happening on site which was daunting but great to begin with. Furthermore, I always had the support of the managers and mobile account specialists if I had any questions or was unsure as to how to deal with situations which was a big relief.

I believe the skills I have learnt have stood me in great position for the rest of my degree. I have now decided to pick the modules that focus on Human Resources primarily as this is something that I thoroughly enjoyed and want to pursue and can help me consider real life practices in the workplace and not just what is said in the books. It has also made me more confident with presenting as I had to do this a lot and also researching more.

The general atmosphere was very friendly. It was just myself and a colleague on the site from Randstad with the occasional manager or mobile coming to visit to assist with anything we need. All the team created a great atmosphere and were all very supportive. We were on site with our client and our workers but we had a great relationship with both of them and it was very rewarding when they could come to us for help and we could help.

The overall organisation of the work placement was good but minimal which was all that was needed. I was given plenty of training by my onsite colleagues in the first few weeks to ensure I was capable and then they let me get on with tasks knowing they were close by to support. We also had a training day early on at the headquarters which was good to learn new things and meet new people from across the different sites

Every month I would have a one-to-one with my manager and they would check in on how I was doing and progressing which was great as he could direct me in other ways to improve myself. He would also ask what i wanted to get out of my placement and the areas I was the most interested in. This meant he could send me tasks from either my current sites or other sites in order to get exposure to it.

The company advised me to get in touch with them during my final year at university to see if there was any employment opportunities with them at the time. However, due to the current COVID-19 situation, it depends how their clients are doing at the time as to whether they would need any additional help. So I shall definitely be getting in touch with the hope of a job but will be applying for graduate placement schemes as well.

There was no other placement students at my site and therefore never really interacted with them apart from at one social event with work but this was very early on. I had heard that there was a site with around 4 placement students there and they had a great social scene going on there. I had a good social scene with my colleague as we often went to the theatre together, or grabbed lunch or a early tea after work.

The cost of living in Liverpool was quite high as I lived in the city centre. Therefore a lot of my wage went on my rent. I could have chosen further afield but I wanted to experience the city centre and wanted to be close to work to avoid public transport. The cost of food and socialising was fine as I kept myself in a budget to allow myself to treat myself once in a while so this made it all affordable whilst being able to save a bit too.

The nightlife where I worked was very lively and there are many different clubs, bars and dining experiences to try out. Liverpool was a great place to go out in and I was lucky as I lived in the city centre so it wasn’t far to go to go out and get back safely, although it did tend to be quite loud which could be annoying when you had an early start as the student nightlife would go on throughout the week.

With work there was not many opportunities presented to get involved with activities. There was a couple of social events but I could only attend one as the other one I had to still be on site which was quite sad as the whole company got together and was the last one I could attend during my placement. However, with my colleague we always made sure to do something every so often outside of work and I had friends in Liverpool to do things with too. I’m sure there was plenty other activities to get involved in which I didn’t realise at the time.