Purchasing Assistant Review

I had a fantastic year. I knew very little about the company before I started, however travel is a really interesting industry to work in. While it was a lot of hard work, the office had a really relaxed environment, I met lots of great people and there was always something fun going on.

I felt extremely valued by my colleagues, especially in the latter stages of my placement. My team grew to rely on me and I was treated the same as any other employee. Purchasing were undergoing some major changes during my year there however my hard work did not go unnoticed.

I was given a lot of guidance and support during my time at TUI. My line manager made every effort to ensure I had regular 1-2-1's and I had a personal development plan in place throughout the year. The first 6 months involved a lot of training and took me a while to find my feet, however I always knew I had support and always knew where to find help when I needed it.

The start date for TUI fell at the end of August which meant it fitted perfectly with the contracting cycle. The first 6 months mainly focused on the winter season, which for short/mid haul is the much quieter period. This meant I had plenty of time for training and to build on my knowledge and confidence. The second half of my placement focused largely on the summer season, which due to a major change in the structure of buying, meant that my days were very busy indeed. However, by this point I felt confident in my work, I felt I was able to keep up and I believe I managed to contribute a lot to my team.

I was given a lot of responsibility and had the opportunity to take on more and more as the placement progressed. In my last few months there, the workload doubled in size and I was relied on to help stay on top of deadlines; I was even asked to stay on for an extra month to help them finish off the current contracting cycle.

I study Maths & Biology at uni so do not feel that the training and development will assist me directly with my degree. However the year has given me a whole range of transferable skills and will definitely assist with my motivation and managing my workload as I go into my final year. Doing a placement has also given me a lot more direction for the future, I would love to go back into travel one day and am definitely interested in a career in Buying.

The office is a really sociable place and has a very relaxed environment. The company treat their employees really well and there was always something going on to reward everyone's hard work.

The scheme was run really well. There were only 9 of us, so we were all known individually and not just as a number. We had monthly meetings with presentations from other areas of the business and to allow us input into how the scheme was run, ideas for the future and to help with the following years assessment centers.

From day one there was a great emphasis on personal development. I had regular meetings with my line manager to discuss objectives and there were various structures put in place to assess how I was performing e.g. 360 feedback from colleagues and half year/full year reviews. We also got training days e.g. Insights Discovery day, as well as the chance to spend time in other departments e.g. an afternoon with after travel.

As mentioned previously, I knew very little about the travel industry before working there and it is a big change in direction from my degree, however I had a fantastic year and would love to go back and work for them again.

Living together in two placement houses meant that we were able to socialise a lot outside of work. There was always something going on and some great friendships were made.

Luton has a great train link into central London. It is just half an hour from St Pancreas but rent is a fraction of the cost.

The nightlife of Luton didn't have a lot to offer however St Albans is just 20 minutes down the road and has some really nice bars. Also trains back to Luton run all night due to the airport so it was easy enough to pop into London if you wanted.

The company put on events throughout the year and there was always something going on with the other placement students.