Academy Operations Coordinator Review

I've absolutely loved my placement year at Toyota GB - it's been an incredible experience and fantastic learning curve for me, with interesting and fun products and a good social scene to go alongside the hard work.

As a placement student, you are a full member of your team within Toyota GB with an extremely valued position doing jobs which really do matter and are very interesting. You don't really get treated like a student - you get treated like an employee, although your role is also fully supported by your manager so you're not left completely alone within your work!

My manager's role was vacant when I started at TGB, so I was reporting directly to the General Manager of my department. He was extremely supportive and helpful, however this was a very big jump so when my manager was appointed it made my life a lot easier. She was happy to get me involved in as many projects as I could be and learned my interests so she knew which sort of role I'd enjoy having within these projects. Although she wasn't my manager from the start this didn't matter as she'd been promoted from within the department so I was already comfortable working with her and she was a familiar face.

Pretty busy - I had a lot of tasks to get on with but loved this and it was a great opportunity to really improve my organisation and prioritisation within the jobs I was given - I had to ensure the important tasks were done first and the admin tasks done as soon as possible afterwards.

I had a lot of admin tasks to do in the first few months of placement which took up a lot of time I'd rather have spent on projects, however this was only due to vacancies within the admin team so once they'd filled these positions these jobs were handed back. This meant for the last half of my placement I was able to work on really interesting projects which really made a difference in the department, and this was great!

My degree is very varied and incorporates a lot of different aspects of the business world, so I believe this placement will really help me when I go back to university as I've learnt so much in my role. This hasn't just been technical skills such as increased confidence and aptitude in Excel and other Microsoft Office programmes, and being able to run reports on systems I was previously unfamiliar with, but also general knowledge about how business like this work and run, and the politics and psychology that goes on behind the scenes! It's been really interesting to watch.

I loved the atmosphere at TGB - it's quite informal as far as offices go, and the location on Epsom Downs was fantastic as it meant there's room in the office for everyone to move around and talk to one another in various places, including sitting in the cars which are on the 'street' between people's desks and the cafe/restaurant. Overall it's very relaxed and friendly - you can say hi to almost everyone you pass in the corridors and they encourage communication and integration between departments as much as possible

There are 21 placement students per year at Toyota - about one in every department. This means they're extremely used to working with Universities and going through all the processes needed to integrate new students into the business every year, from the detailed corporate induction to application for the Graduate jobs at the end of the year.

My manager was happy for me to attend as much training as I possibly could, which was made easier through working in the Toyota Academy - the training department for the centre network. Through TGB I was able to attend intermediate Excel training and personal development training sessions, and through my department I learnt about the products, sales techniques and also went on the management and leadership courses we run, which was really interesting.

Toyota GB only hire from the 21 placement students they have each year, and 2 of these get the Graduate Job. Because of this, there's less competition from others, although the competition is obviously harder as you all have the benefit of having worked for the company for a year already! Due to the overall atmosphere in the office and my love of the automotive industry in general as well as specifically Toyota's products and way of working, I am already in the process of applying for the graduate job, and so are the majority of the other students who have this opportunity. This says it all about how attractive the graduate scheme is really!

Yes there was - the sports and social team organises regular events which is a great opportunity to socialise with people from other departments, and the student team have lunch together every day and also go on social events outside work, so the balance is really good.

As we're relatively close to London, the cost of socialising is more than it was for me at uni, however still cheap enough for this to not be an issue. I didn't need to pay to live in the area, however other students lived together and the cost of their rent was more than reasonable,

In Epsom itself the nightlife is extremely limited, however the students all got on really well so the nights out were fun anyway! If you're interested in bigger nights out then Kingston and Central London are pretty easy to get to, so nights out there were organised occasionally.

Yes a few, not as many as I hoped but I took every opportunity to get involved in other areas where I could so as long as you make the most of these you'll be fine!