Retail Management Placement Review

1st 8 months: learning the ropes in stores - started with 4 weeks of store assistant training, then roughly 2 months in the Deputy Store Manager role and finally roughly 4 months as an Assistant Store Manager final 4 months: 3 sets of projects which involved data collection and analysis, problem solving to come up with solutions and formally presenting. The projects were very independent in terms of our methods, planning our time and the quality of our work.

Hard skills: Microsoft office use, namely excel and powerpoint communication in the workplace over teams, email and by phone analysing data in store setting - day to day performance analysis and tracking soft skills: Managing a group of up to 15 people at a time (total store team of 50) - motivating, delegating tasks, decision making, performance management, planning, leading by example, wellbeing management, giving feedback, delivering training Delivery of a formal presentation, including answering follow up questions from senior directors forming relationships with colleagues across the business in a range of roles

Very quickly i was given a large amount of responsibility. Within 6 weeks of my placement I was unlocking and locking up a store on my own. Within 3 months I was often the most senior person in store, responsible for our task completion and performance. When training with my mentor, I conducted interviews on my own in the 2nd week of the placement and was trusted with daily analysis tasks. In the project work, I was unsupervised in terms of my working hours and location - I was trusted to go away and get on with the task in hand and expected to delivery a high standard of work on the agreed date.

The level of support and guidance varied throughout the year. While in stores, I was always support by my colleagues who had a great deal more experience than myself - the Store Manager in particular. I could also reach out to my Area Manager when I needed to By design, the projects were set up for us to work independently and show our initiative, but we still have regular check ins with the relevant people where we could get their support and voice any concerns

In my experience the culture in stores is great. I was welcomed into the teams immediately and respected well. Colleague generally have good relationships and work well as a team to meet daily goals. During my project work, I met many new colleagues in role ranging from Group Managing Director down to Store Assistant, and was always greeted well, with my view point listened to.

I have gained more than I ever thought I could from my placement year. This includes the hard and soft skills but even more so, the relationships I have forged and challenges I've over come. The year has been difficult at times with it being such a big change from university life, but I have learnt so much that I can take forward

Yes

This role will give you so much positive experience that you can carry into your career. You will be infinitely more confident and employable. However, these things are only true if you are willing to put in the graft and time that is required. This programme will see you waking up at 2am, and going to bed at 2am, getting your hands dirty, have those difficult conversations, and working under pressure - consider whether you can get on board with these challenges before applying!