Marketing Communications Assistant Review

My placement year was absolutely brilliant. In my opinion everyone should do a placement year if they have the opportunity. I was particularly fortunate to land a job with one of the brands I had a real passion for.

I never felt like the 'placement student' and was never referred to as the 'student.' I immediately felt part of the team, which made settling in to my role much easier than I anticipated.

Overall, the support provided by my line manager and the HR team was more than sufficient throughout the year. I would have liked to have had more contact time with my manager at times, but I never felt that I was on my own or couldn't ask anyone for help if required.

The placement progressed well with my days and weeks becoming more busy the longer I had been with the company and the more experienced I became. Towards the end of my year the workload was at times very heavy, but I would rather be busy than have nothing to do! Plus it encouraged me to plan and prioritise my days, which was extremely useful and will help in me in future employment.

Was given many tasks and projects to run by myself, with the support of my manager. Level of responsibility was ideal and more than I imagined before starting.

The practical elements of the placement will definitely compliment the theory studied at university. As a result, I believe my essays will have more depth to them as I can call upon real life examples. I also went on some excel and PowerPoint courses which helped me to be more effective in my role, but will also serve me well at university.

Everyone in the office is approachable and friendly, however, generally the office was quite quiet. There were times when colleagues had a laugh or shared a joke, but most people were focussed on their jobs. The most noise definitely came from my colleagues and I in the marketing department!

Cannot complain - from start to finish HR kept us informed and updated as to what was required from us. The assessment centre was superbly run and very well organised. As soon as I was offered the job, I was sent information on what documents I had to fill in, when and where the induction day was to be held etc.

As mentioned already, I attended IT courses to help me develop skills specific to my job function. These were run by HR with the support of my manager. I also went on some media and buying training courses run by our agency clients, such as Mediacom. I felt that there was sufficient investment in me from the firm, however, I would have liked to attended more courses at the superb training facility the VW group has. Unfortunately I was too busy to be able to book on further courses.

I believe the chances are quite high. Previous placement students who now have permanent roles at the company have said their placement year was key to them getting a job as they were already familiar with the industry and the company. There is a graduate scheme, which I will apply for, but there are no guaranteed jobs just because you have been on placement with them.

This was one of the most appealing parts to gaining a placement with the VW Group. As there are 5 main brands under one roof, plus financial services just across the road, there were about 25 students on placement at the same time. As a result, it felt like we were back at university in the evenings and the weekends. Our particular intake got on like a house on fire and were out partying/clubbing almost every weekend! We also regularly went to watch films, go for meals and watch football together amongst other things. The perfect work/life balance. Milton Keynes although rather soulless, was well geared towards students with clubs, restaurants, gyms, indoor snow slopes and many more things on offer all within a 10 minute drive.

About standard really in my view. Housing and socialising wasn't overly expensive, but wasn't massively cheap either. One thing I would say is that you shouldn't expect to be paying student prices for housing unless you happen to be in a student area. Having said that, the wage we were on was sufficient to get by each month, pay for the rent and socialise.

There was a choice of about 5 or 6 clubs with your standard revolution and a large club called Wonderworld. The nightlife was good enough for the year, although it did seem to get a bit repetitive towards the end as the choice isn't huge. London is only 35 minutes on a train though for a change of scenery and better nightlife options.

There were opportunities although they were not greatly advertised to colleagues in my opinion. I did get involved with a 5-a-side club which I really enjoyed as I love my football. It was also a good opportunity to meet other people from around the VW Group and network.