Trainee Location Analysis Support Officer Review

Absoultely fantastic placement in a great business. I couldn't recommend it more- the experience has been invaluable for my future career.

I was treated as a permanent member of the team from day one, rather than as a placement student, and recieved the same training as any new starter to the department would. By the end of the placement, I was recieving direct requests from other areas of the business and given confidential, high level projects to complete and report.

I was assigned a mentor from the start of my placement, who was my direct go-to for support, and who remained in this role throughout the year, even when he moved on with a promotion. As well as this guidance, my line manager was always approachable and made time for regular 1-2-1 meetings in which my development was discussed in detail. For all other queries, we also had the undergraduate placement manager who gave support from outside our departments.

I was rarely bored, or without a project, as alongside day to day tasks the whole team were assigned objectives and more chunky projects to be working on continuously thoughout the year. There was always something to do, but on balance I was rarely overwhelmed with the amount of work I was given and could always approach my manager if I felt I had too much on my plate.

I felt I was given as much responsibility as the other full time members of the support team, however with some things it was impossible for this to be the case due to the time constraint of a year.

I've learnt more in my placement year than I could ever have thought possible, and feel I've developed a huge number of transferrable skills which will help both in my final year and definitely in my future career.

Busy, dynamic office with enthusiastic and supportive people and a fast paced atmosphere.

Great from within the department, and very well through the undergraduate placement scheme. I feel it will only get better as the scheme becomes more mature- we were only the second year of official placement students on the scheme.

I was sent on a training course in my second week to learn how to use a software package, and regularly attended conferences and meetings I expressed an interest in. There was always an opportunity to put forward a business case if I felt I needed more training in a specific area.

I hope to come back to the Co-operative Group on their graduate scheme- this year has given me an insight into the scheme and it's structure. As a placement student we are fast tracked through to the assessment centre of the graduate application process.

There were many opportunities for a busy social scene- we were included in any graduate social events and the Co-operative has a busy, popular sports and social club.

Manchester is a lot cheaper than London! A standard 2 bed flat is about £625-£650 a month.

Manchester has plenty of clubs and bars!

Co-op encourage volunteering, there are lots of sporting events and tournaments, always an opportunity to get involved in something!