PR Assistant Review

I did love it, there are parts I wasn't so keen on but I guess that's all a part of it - nobody loves their job 100% of the time! I don't think there's anything I'd change as it's all a learning experience.

By most people I felt valued daily and I really felt like I was an integral part of the team. Again, there were some instances where this wasn't the case but on the whole I was part of an amazing team.

My management system changed halfway through. When I first started I didn't have an in house manager (she worked in Leeds) so mostly I was by myself but I didn't mind this - I like taking charge and using my own initiative. If I ever needed help or support she was always just an email or phone call away. When in house my manager started in October I felt pretty confident in my role so at first it was hard to build that manager/assistant dynamic as I was so used to being by myself and having people come directly to me for most things that it almost felt like a step backwards, but he has been supportive if I've needed anything.

The nature of my role meant that we have huge peaks and troughs. Some weeks I am literally running around from the minute I get in to the minute I leave, whereas other times we are quieter. At first these downtimes got a bit boring, but I soon started working closely with the other marketing areas to ensure that if the PR dept wasn't too busy, I was making myself busy in other areas and in turn gaining wider experiences.

Due to the management changes this varied. At first, as the only permanent in house PR, I was given huge responsibility and had very close and daily contact with all senior managers which I loved. When my in house manager started, he of course took a lot of the responsibility as a manager would. This was at first quite hard to get used to as I wasn't clear on where my roles and responsibilities ended and his started, but after a while this became clearer. It almost felt like handing over the reigns a little and took some adjustment, but for the next placement role this won't be an issue as there won't be that huge change in the middle of their year.

I feel the skills and training I have aquired will assist me massively both in my final year and when I graduate. I have had constant exposure to many different areas of fashion including buying, merchandising, design and all of the marketing pillars. Although my placement was a PR one, I've also worked with the marketing teams for insight, strategy, social media and creative. I have also worked closely with the wider Asda PR team who are exeptional at what they do, and a great team to learn from and observe, and they've taught me a great deal. I feel I have learnt masses about PR and the wider industry, both in house and agency, but do not feel limited by it and I've also had the opportunity to learn from so many other people. I feel very lucky to have met and worked with the many industry professionals I have on my placement year and am very proud to take all my experiences and knowledge forward with me - I am confident it will set me in very good stead both academically and with prospective employers.

Really great - the ethos and atmosphere at George is really important. I've heard from lots of other placement students that office politics haven't been great, but at George everyone is lovely. It makes a world of difference and I never felt uncomfortable or excluded. There were of course busy times where chat was to a minimum but I have loved working there and made true friends.

I never really had any problems and felt it was well organised. The only thing was the job role wasn't exactly as specified and needed tweaking but this has since been done to better reflect the actual expectations, roles and responsibilities.

Pretty much anything I required or asked for, I got. Everyone was so helpful and it felt like people really wanted me to do well. Even with events & conferences etc which weren't PR related, I was always encouraged to attend and throw myself into every opportunity. I feel I have really grown personally and professionally through my time at George.

A really high percentage of placement students are offered permanent roles back within the business. I feel they are committed to nurturing young talent and would feel confident applying for a role there after graduation.

It was different for me as I lived at home during my placement year so I didn't house share. I spent the majority of my time with my colleagues on my department rather than with the other placement students are we were all in different areas so I'm not really sure what the did out of work.

I lived at home so my living was obviously cheap. I live in a small village so mostly local pubs and restaurants which are all reasonable. Leicester town is fairly cheap for socialising depending on what you're after.

Lutterworth is a fairly small village but there are lovely pubs and restaurants locally. I was lucky as all my home friends were nearby so I had a good social life. Leicester isn't the best for a night out but I'm probably negatively biased as I spent my teenage years going out there so I'm probably bored of it now!

The Marketing team often go for work lunches, dinners and drinks. I was lucky working within a great team who all got on really well on a personal level. I know the business do put on out of work activites such as sporting events etc but I never attended.