Reputation and Responsible Business Placement Student Review

I support the entire Reputation and Responsible Business team on different projects. This mainly includes writing internal and external communications about our programmes. I have also supported on reporting projects, sustainability events and DEI initiatives. My day-to-day role requires me to correspond with our charitable and corporate partners and advertise these partnerships internally. Moreover, I assist on stem initiatives my team manages. This has involved developing communications for social media, websites, and articles and assisting at events.

Yes, I have led on major internal projects, such as fundraising campaigns. These required me to correspond with external partners, collaborate with internal teams and create all the assets for the campaign. I could ask my team for guidance and support, however I ensured the project was delivered on time and was successful.
Moreover, I am responsible for regularly contacting our external partners and have demonstrated professional conduct in meetings with senior people.
Finally I have led other placement students at events to support the running of the events. This included arranging the students, briefing them, ensuring they had all the resources they needed to complete their role and being their first point of contact if any questions or situations arise.

I have developed soft skills such as team working, written and oral communication, leadership, planning and organisation.
I have learned new hard skills such as Canva.
I have learned how to tell the story of our brand, internally and externally, using digital assets. How to build relationships with partners and key teams within the business.
I have learned how to manage projects and led other placement students.

I had weekly 1-1 meetings with my line manager, whom I could ask any question. During busy points in projects, I had 1-1 meetings with the project led to again ask any question.
I had a mentor who guided me through my placement, advising me of what I should be doing and giving feedback on my projects.

The company culture is very welcoming and everyone is very willing to help, answer any questions or jump on a networking call.
However, there are some internal politics and at times it can take a long time to have things approved and signed off by multiple teams.

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement. There is so many opportunities to learn about new areas of the business and work on new projects. I was given a lot of responsibility and a lot of support. The programme for placement students is very well established with there being over 300 placement students throughout the UK. We are encouraged to connect through our own employee resource group and have gained a great network.

Yes