Customer Category Merchandiser Review

I loved my placement year at Muller. Personally it could not have been a better fit.

I felt really valued by my team. Everyone was really supportive and they were really impressed with the way i worked. Having encouragement within the team was really great and pushed me to work hard to show everyone that i loved my job.

I was given good support. My line manager changed throughout the year but this didnt disrupt me. My line manager wasnt great with having formal 1 to 1's weekly (which is what happens for most at Muller). But for me that was fine - if i had anything i needed to discuss i would raise it. Apart from my line manager who was out of the office a couple of days a week the rest of the team were great and always happy to explain anything to me.

This definately varied. There were days that were crazy busy - non stop! And other days that were a lot slower but there was always something to be getting on with. I think this is pretty normal to have these ups and downs - i certainly was never twiddling my thumbs!

I was given a fair amount of responsibility during my placement. I was responsible for all the building on retailer planograms and once i settled into my role was allowed to do what i thought was best on these plans and able to move products around based on sales - without guidence. Also there was an occasion where i went into one of the top 4 retailers alone for 2 days to help them with an internal planogram issue. This was a highlight of my placement as i felt really trusted to Muller to be allowed to go alone into a big customer of theirs and interact for a number of days.

In regards to my degree i think my placement just helped present the real view of the topics i had studied. Also when i returned to university for everything my lecturers discussed i had my own example of that happening at work to myself or a colleague - it was great to have real life case studies. Also as i conducted research whilst on placement i was able to apply this during my final year and throughout my dissertation. Beyond university the skills i developed prepared me for my current role and generally getting on in business. I recieved excel training - which was great as excel is part of my everyday. Also i recieved presentation skills training - which was key as i now present to customers regularly.

This was something i personally found fine - there was never massive tensions surrounding myself in the office. However with others there were times when things could get tense - with working long hours etc. Generally though the atmosphere was good, and in particular in my team where many giggles happened all day long - a full team of females bar one!! So conversation was never lacking.

My placement was a first within our department, and as mentioned my line manager was relaxed in his style. Therefore i could have done with more structure at the beginning. However i believe this is much better now as i myself did a handover with someone, and they then followed suit when they left. Nowadays placements are high on the agenda for muller so i dont doubt that the organisation of these is in a better place now than when i began my placment almost 3 years ago.

i took part in a survey when i joined which explained our teams personalities, how we worked together etc. This was the only piece offered during my placement year. However since returning i have completed 2 assessments and this personal development is something i am constantly looking at with my current line manager - having weekly sessions to develop understanding of the business.

very. I myself have returned and knew i wanted to early on. If you do well and impress the business will do all they can to keep good people within Muller - people move around and progress often at Muller so oppotunities arise often.

Unfortunately during my time i was the only placement student so this was not in place. However i cannot speak for now. Also i was based in our head office which is in a rural location, therefore that makes socialising after work difficult. However i did do many things with colleagues who worked full time at Muller such as attending a boot camp with my team weekly, meeting colleagues from the marketing department and attending cocktail nights etc with people across the business. We also often had team meetings and evenings out, as well as yearly who department functions such as christmas parties.

Muller's head office is in a rural location so there isnt really anywhere to go during the day. I lived roughly 30 mins from the office in a great town which had plenty to do and was not an expensive place to live. The cost of living was low, i lived in a lovely apartment and was able to get out socialising without worrying about money.

Shrewsbury is a small town - but it has plenty of bars and restaurants, perhaps only 2 nightclubs. This didnt bother me as i am from a small town and went to university in lancaster which is also relatively small. So for me it was fine! But if you crave london/manchester nightlife it will not live up to your expectations.

Not really - due to the rural position of work. But as a team we did try to do activities such as boot camp or pop out for the occasional lunchtime.