Late Trading Assistant Review

Role was challenging and offered a lot of responsibility whilst helping me to develop a range of skills. Office enviornment is young, vibrant and relaxed making for a great working atmosphere.

Placements are considered permenant employees and as such are given full responsibility for their own geographical areas. Traders work closely together at all times creating a family atmosphere and also have close links with multiple other departments in the business, ranging from PR to Product & Purchasing.

A clear hierearchy and support network is maintained throughout the placement. Placements will develop strong relationships with line managers and general managers whilst the placement team is also available for none role related issues.

The seasonal nature of the travel industry means that there are definite busy and calm periods. As this is widely accepted, peers are sypathetic to workload and deadlines, making managing time and tasks as comfortable as possible.

Placements are given full responsibility for trading multiple geographical areas during the course of the placement. This includes making important pricing/yield decisions based on independent analysis.

At the begninning of the year we were part of an in depth placement induction programme, and given detailed training by our individual departments. Throughout the course of the year, a couple of ad-hoc trainging courses have been offered but not as many as most placements would have liked. Seasonality allows for plenty of opportunities to complete short secondments in other departments and to get involved with additional project work. Overall the scheme has helped me to develop several skills that are not necesarily exercised as part of my degree course.

Overall atmosphere is great. There is no shortage of young and enthusiastic colleagues meaning that even when the pressure is on during peak trading periods it is easy to stay motivated and enjoy the role.

We enjoyed a well structured induction programme and kept close contact with the placement team through monthly meetings. Only critcism is the lack of ad-hoc training/development opportunities during the course of the year, despite frequent requests from placements.

Strong induction programme at the beginning of the year however little further training/development following this. Plenty of opportunities to spend time with other departments and work on wider projects however this largely had to be organised independently.

A great company to work for with good grad scheme/full time opportunities and fantastic travel benefits. Main negatives are head office location and slightly lower than average graduate salary.

Placement students and colleagues mix to create plenty of social opportunities. Evening activities and day trips are common whilst football and cricket teams are also available.

Luton offers very reasonably priced housing and commodities for the South East. Socal acitivties such as the cinema and playing golf are also cheaper here than in surrounding areas. The town centre is OK for shopping however with Milton Keynes and London nearby there are plenty of places to shop.

Socialising in Luton is cheap but doesn't offer much variety. Whilst St. Albans and London are a little more expensive, they offer more variety and are both easy to get to with rail services running through the night.

There are football and cricket teams organised at work. In addition to this I have used work as a base for organising several weekend/evening social events through the year.