Trainee Assistant Buyer Review

My role involves supporting the AB and Buyer in trading tasks such as pulling data for Monday trade, competitor analysis reports, sample sealing and management. I regularly communicate with suppliers regarding critical path and sample stages to report to the team. I also support the e-commerce teams by organising samples for ecomm shoots.

I have definitely learnt new skills, such as the basics of communication, working in a fast pace and working under pressure. Also, more detailed skills include Microsoft excel, understanding profit margin, trading data reports and benchmarking.

I was given the right amount of responsibility on my placement, enough for me to run and manage my own work load. However, if needed, I was also given support to help with my tasks that I have taken responsibility for. For example, I was responsible of presenting weekly competitor reports but when needed, I would ask the wider team questions.

I was given a lot of support and guidance not only from my manager, but from different areas of the business such as recruitment, HR, merchandising and design.

The general atmosphere of the homeware department made me feel extremely comfortable within my first few weeks. Everyone made the effort to greet eachother and discuss topics outside of work to ensure the team feel uplifted and keep a positive atmosphere across the wider team.

I extremely enjoyed my placement with matalan. Not only did I make new friends, I also was offered a part time role for whilst I study back at university. I am really looking forward to my future with matalan.

Yes

My advice would be (if applying for a TAB role) to understand matalan’s competitors. I felt this was a big thing that allowed me to secure my placement. Also having research around the company and product that you are looking at working on.