Nutrition Assistant Review

My placement has been a huge learning curve, allowing me to consolidate my university learnings so far and put them into practice. I have undertaken and delivered multiple projects with the support of my team and I am leaving with a wealth of experience and new friends. I have had a fantastic time and the year has given me drive to go back to university and focus on my final year.

Throughout the year my team and wider departments have really made me feel as though my work has been valuable. In regular reviews with my line manager I received positive feedback from my team about my contribution to group projects and my individual work. We have also had team days and other activities outside of work that have brought us together.

I had monthly catch ups with my line manager and quarterly reviews, where we discussed ongoing projects. I was given constructive feedback on both the work I had completed and my own personal development. In these meetings and group team meetings, my involvement in upcoming projects was also discussed and I was offered guidance to ensure I gained maximum benefit from my year.

There were times in my year where I was less busy and this was when I focussed on day to day tasks and how I could improve the way I completed them. Equally, certain times of the year were busier and I had lots of projects running at once and this is when time management is essential. My team were always supportive of me asking for more work and also turning down additional work if I felt I was too busy.

My team allowed me to accept more responsibility as my confidence grew throughout the year. I felt that my team trusted me to deliver high quality work on time, which was rewarding. They also supported me and my opinions and I always felt comfortable to voice my thoughts and how I felt we could improve things.

Being in an office environment taught me a lot about office culture and basic skills such as email, producing documents and resources and attending meetings. My team and line manager were also very supportive of my own personal development, allowing me to improve my skills. For example, I highlighted presenting as a skill I would like to develop and my line manager and I identified an opportunity for me to present to a group of around 20 people on multiple occasions, in order for me to improve. In addition, my manager always encouraged me to attend external events and training days.

The office is friendly and I have worked with lots of different departments during my year, I worked within the technical department, so people work hard, but there is always time for jokes and fun. The department also came together once a week to share both business and personal news.

It was a priority for my manager to make my year really worthwhile and to ensure that I was happy with the work I was delivering. In terms of the organisation of the year as a whole, all the IP students had 4 development days, which allowed us to give feedback and learn skills such as presenting, interview techniques and better ways of working.

My immediate team always encouraged me to push my boundaries and improve my personal skills. They also always had time to help me, for example, the team were happy to review my CV and help me to improve it. As previously mentioned, I was also encouraged to attend training days and external conferences, both to represent Waitrose and to develop other skills.

There is a graduate scheme that we have been introduced to. My immediate team is small and I am unsure whether employment within it in the future is likely, however there are lots of other opportunities within the business that I could apply for.

I lived in a house with 4 other placement students from different departments within Waitrose. (Waitrose facilitated this by getting us all together to discuss housing before we started). We lived in Reading and we often socialised with the rest of the placement students from Head Office, who also lived together in Reading. My team often went out for dinners and lunches to celebrate birthdays and people leaving etc.

I came from a London university, so rent was a lot cheaper here. Nights out were very affordable as Reading is a student city and there are lots of restaurants and shops.

Bracknell is not somewhere you would go for a night out, but there is a nice pub where you can go for a meal and drinks and you get discount if you work at Waitrose.

There are lots of clubs you can join within the business and also we often went into London for nights out with other departments. There are subsidised tickets to concerts and you can claim money back for courses like photography or learning a new language.