Cruise Trading Assistant Review

I have loved my placement. I've actually woken up looking forward to go to work. TUI offers so much variety, the atmosphere is great and there always seems to be something different going on to keep you entertained.

My team have been very supportive from day 1. Everyone gets on really well and you immediately feel like you fit in. They have been very supportive in helping me achieve what I've wanted to in the year, helping with any work and listening to my opinions and ideas.

I was given support to achieve this year. I have had regular reviews, feedback and enouragement to be successful which means I've been able to work on development areas and maximise my learning through the year. My management has been great as it has really suited me to be given a task and work on it and then be able to review it with my manager to get support where neccessary. The balance between support and giving me independance has been perfect.

Naturally there have been some periods of the year that have been busier than others but the balance has pretty much always been good. As we're a small team it can be tricky when team members are off but the support is there to balance work load.

I was given lots of responsibility, especially when asking for it. My team were very good at finding projects for me to work on that i'd be interested in and letting me take forward any ideas to improve things. We also got involved in a couple of projects as placements in the wider business and could take full responsibility to implement ideas here.

I have been able to improve skills through regular feedback and reviews which mean that I will return to uni more mature and confident and I now feel like I have the neccessary skills to enter work when I graduate.

The atmosphere is great as its quite a young office and full of personalities. It defintitely is the cliché work hard play hard kind of office. Everyone takes their work seriously but there's often something fun going on to break it up. There's been various events throughout the year such as Una from the Saturdays coming in to work or a visit to the hangar to see the dreamliner.

It was very well organised from the start with a comprehensive training schedule in place. We had weekly placement meetings, were set objectives and development points and were treated like full time members of staff so its been seamless all year!

We were encouraged to go on any training courses available, spend time in different departments and spend time learning from other colleagues. I have attended full day training sessions and development sessions that have been really useful to improve my knowledge. As placements we had half year and full year reviews and we could identify any areas from here to work on.

We had the chance to attend a graduate assessment centre whilst on the placement scheme and I have now already secured a job for when I graduate.

Most people at work are up for doing something if you suggest it. As most people travel and have families then things do have to be planned in advance. With the placements there's been a good social scene in the week and at weekends when people are around. It can be tricky sometimes to do things if some people are already busy as there's not that many of us but it has been a good year.

Luton is really cheap and saving money on rent means that we had more money to spend socialising. Getting into London on the train is really good value, however it can be expensive when you get there and the surrounding areas like St. Albans and Harpenden are expensive for nights out.

You can get the train from Luton to St Albans or London throughout the night so it is cheap to go out and there's plenty of options of places to go from Luton which has been good. However, its not the same as being in a large city where you have plenty of choices and can spontaneously go out.

There are some events set up for the company to go to and often we'll do something as a team but a lot of it you have to source yourself. I definitely haven't been bored though!