Late Trading Assistant Review

I was immediately welcomed into my team and treated just like every other member of staff which I think is one of the great things about TUI. I was given great responsibility and enjoyed every aspect about the placement; both in my role and with my team, and as part of the placement scheme.

I was always encouraged to give my opinion and had great responsibility in performing my role. My team provided great support and were always happy to offer advice if needed.

I was given great support throughout the year from my managers and senior people within my team. I was made to feel extremely at ease and was always offered advice and feedback. I was also encouraged and given the opportunity to see other parts of the business aside from my usual role.

There are typically periods that are busier than others within travel, and in my department. However, throughout the year, I always had plenty of work to do or opportunities to get involved with. I enjoyed the challenges of being busy and every day was different which constantly made work exciting.

I was given huge responsibility in my placement year and treated exactly the same as a full time member of staff. I was responsible for my own resort destinations and the trading and performance of these resorts -changing prices, hitting targets, changing strategies etc. At TUI, you have the freedom to give your opinion on what you think should happen, as long as you can justify the reason why and with the constant support of your manager. I also had the opportunity to work on other projects within the department and on the placement scheme.

I definitely feel that I became more confident as a person during my time on placement and will be taking this into my final year back at University. I developed a lot of business skills during the year at TUI; improving communication, time management, presenting etc. which will all come in useful. Although the role is quite specific, I also now have a much better understanding about the industry and how many of the tools that I am studying back at University, such as forecasting, can be put into practice in business.

The atmosphere in the office is great - it is relaxed and open plan but very much 'work hard play hard.' Everyone is very friendly and gets on with their work. However, there are often lots of fun events around the office such as product day and themed days. I always looked forward to going into work and the atmosphere definitely helps you to settle in quickly.

I thought the placement scheme was excellent and think that this will keep improving. We were given great support throughout the year and were really encouraged to get involved with other aspects within the company. We had regular meetings and development sessions in place and had trips organised, such as a visit to the Hangar to see the maintenance of the aircraft. The team were great and always available to ask for advice and the recruitment process/induction process was very well put together.

Within our role, the emphasis is on on-the-job training which for me, was definitely the best way to learn the role. I was always fully informed of training courses that were available and encouraged to attend any that I thought would be beneficial. As placements, we had a learning and development team who set up workshops throughout the year and presentations from other areas around the business. We were also encouraged to go and spend time with other departments which was both beneficial and interesting. We also had full and mid year reviews, as well as a 360 feedback that we completed which helped to identify personal areas of development.

I will be keeping in touch with my manager whilst I am back at University and would love to return to the company in the future if possible.

As placements many of us also shared houses together which meant that we often socialised in the evenings or at weekends when people were available and several of us also went on holiday together in the year. Employees within the company are very fun and there are regular team socials or nights out, as well as company wide christmas and summer parties etc.

Luton itself is very cheap to live for the year, as well as going out. There are nicer places nearby to live and to socialise such as Harpenden, St Albans, London etc. but these are more expensive so we often just visited there at weekends or for evenings out.

Places to go out in Luton are quite limited and it isn't always the busiest. However, St Albans and London are easy and cheap to get to on the train and have much better nightlife!

There was always regular activities planned with our teams and team nights out.