Early Trading Assistant Review

Plain and simply, this is a fantastic place to work, I learnt so much in what felt like such a short period of time. Loved it!!

Trading is such a tight-knit team, and with each and every trader having their own areas of expertise, everyone within it values and respects each other’s opinions.

Each team of traders have line managers who are brilliant in giving support and guidance, both in knowledge and expertise, but more importantly in personal development. What's great about the team is that all managers, no matter how senior, are approachable with any queries no matter how routine they may be.

Like any job there are busier times than others, but in my year at TUI I can say that I never at any point found myself twiddling my thumbs. The busy times can be very hectic with tight deadlines needing to be met on a day-to-day basis, but as the key element of the job is to stimulate demand, even during the quiet times no-one can say they have nothing to do.

It's hard to image exactly how much responsibility you have within Trading, but at no point are you ever treated like a placement student, the trading role is exactly that performed by full-time staff. As you are solely responsible for the resorts you trade, you are expected to attend regular meeting with different areas of the business to update them of the trading position and discuss your insights.

My placement has given me so much more confidence in my own ability of which I am already benefiting from in my final year at Uni. I spent my entire placement year learning new things and developing skills which has put me in a much better position to go on and secure a good degree. One prime example of this is giving presentations – Just the thought of giving a presentation was truly terrifying before my placement year, and yet now I consider it to be one of my strengths. TUI use a 360 degree feedback system with all placement students which allows you to gain feedback from so many different areas of the business you work with on a regular basis. This process gave me so much more confidence in my own ability as its one thing getting praise and areas to work on from your direct manager, but it’s another to receive it from 10 colleagues from around the business.

The atmosphere within the office is what sets this job aside from the rest! Everyone I spoke to on other placement schemes was jealous of how enjoyable the work environment is at TUI and to top that off, there is a great social scene... despite being located in Luton!

As placement students we had regular discussions with the leaders of the scheme of what we thought was great and what we thought could be improved going forward. The scheme is growing and looks very promising going forward!

There wasn't a huge amount of personal training but I never at all felt this to be an issue as I was learning new things on a daily basis within my role, of which the benefits far outweigh those from any set training days. Regarding development though, I couldn't hold the company in any higher regard. As previously mentioned, they do wonders for enhancing personal development especially in helping build confidence in your weaker areas.

As my placement role is exactly the same as that of those working on a full-time basis, the thought of returning after my final year is very appealing! There is a strong retention rate of placement students which gives you great confidence, knowing that a lot of the people in senior positions within the business were once on the scheme.

The vast majority of placement students rent houses together and that in itself generates a good social scene. Not only that though, there are a lot of graduates at the company and so there is always something going on!

One of the more positive sides of Luton is that it's cheaper than other areas of the country. Living costs are cheap, though not as cheap as I thought it would be. Socialising tends to take place in the likes of Harpenden, St. Albans and London as it’s safe to say they are nicer than Luton, but saying that, most nights out ended up in Luton anyway as it's so much cheaper!

Luton nightlife isn't much to write home about, but after a few drinks no one complains!

Personally I joined a 5-a-side football team with a few lads from work but there are ample other sports teams and gyms in and around the area.