Retail Management Placement Review

Whilst in store I was part of the management team. This meant I had responsibilities such as running the shop floor on a day to day basis; ordering the products for the store; to motivate and maintain the general wellbeing of the store team. In head office I have done a number of projects across a variety of departments, these projects are highly influential for example I had the chance to design self checkout areas for 7 stores.

The level of responsibility I was given is unlike any other placement students I have spoken to in any other scheme. The level you go in at is usually undertaken by people who have been with the business for a number of years.

My leadership skills have improved exponentially, the chance to have such a senior management role in a store at such a young age, and low level of experience, is unique and a worthwhile process. My ability to communicate effectively as part of a team has also improved, as it must when you are working with a management team of around 7 people to ensure a store that takes £500,000 a week meets commercial KPIs it has been set, whilst maintaining high customer facing standards.

You are assigned a mentor before you even start who reached out to me so you had a familiar face waiting for you on day one, the mentor then has regular catch ups (often weekly) where I was given lots of helpful advice and support. There were also a few other placement students in the same region who I got to know well and we supported each other throughout the year.

Very sociable place to work, particularly in store I became very close with a number of my colleagues. Hard work is expected but the directors were very conscious of work-life balance, asking at every update about working hours, interests outside of work, how we were doing mentally etc.

I have thoroughly enjoyed it, due to sense of purpose I had due to the large amount of responsibility I was given.

Yes