Network Q - Marketing Specialist Review

Overall I have enjoyed my placement year, to start with I struggled with adjusting to working life and the responsibility that was given to me, but after almost completing the year I have had a good experience.

I feel that my contribution to Vauxhall has been valued, espeically with my line manager. I have been lucky to have been given a great deal of responsbility and I feel that my manager has allowed me to input my ideas and opionions throughout the year.

Throughout my time at Vauxhall, I was given support, but not as much as i'd wanted. Myself and my manager were both very busy during the year, so it was difficult to make time for a catch up and review.

I would say that I was fairly busy on a day to day basis, and on a monthly basis i'd say very busy. It did depend on the projects that we have on at the time, but I liked to be kept busy, it made the days go alot quicker and made me feel like I was being valued and not just given little responsibility.

I was given alot of responsbility, as soon as I started I was involved in external meetings with agencies, whereby my thoughts and opinions were taken on board. Throughout the year, I felt the responsbility given to me was increased, especially during busy periods.

I do fill that the skills and experience i've gained from Vauxhall will help me, maybe not that much in my final year, but definitley when I start searching for a career. I've got some great examples of the work that I have helped on and I feel these will be valued in any upcoming interviews after my degree.

I must admit the office atmosphere could of been improved, as I worked within quite a small team, and we tended to be out of the office alot. However, sometimes when the office was quiet, it helped me to concentrate and meant that I didn't get distracted from work.

When I first arrived at Vauxhall the organisaiton wasn't great, it definitley could of been improved. During our first 2 weeks, we had a handover period, but this tended to be very slow, and we had a lot of waiting around and short days, this ultimatley didn't set us up for a real working week.

The company invested only little into the training for undergraduates. We was given excel training, but this was quite a long session, and I didn't feel that I gained much from it. As well as this we had presentation training, this I found to be alot more useful, it was a more engaging session and allowed us to practice our skills.

Vauxhall doesn't have a graduate scheme in place, and they don't really promote offering students a job after they've graduated. I do know a few undergradutes that have been offered to come back to the company, but I don't think this happens very often.

It was okay, I was commuting from home, so I already knew the area quite well and I personally chose not to get that involved in the social activites that were scheduled.

I was living at home during my year at Vauxhall, so I am unware of the cost of living, however a few of my friends who did move away from home said it wasn't too expensive, in comparison to the cost of living at uni. In regards to socialising, Luton is quite a cheap area, however London is close, but obviously this ended up costing more to go out in.

It wasn't good at all, as I lived back at home, I knew the area well and I chose not to participate in the social acitivies that involved local nightclubs. I didn't join Vauxhall for it's social life, so I didn't feel like I was missing out.

There were a few, I would say these mostly occured during our handover periods at both the start, and the end. I would however notice from time to time, posters advertising rounders events, and pub quizzes etc, but again I wasn't overly fussed about attending these events.