We caught up with Sophie who is on a 12-month placement at Enterprise and was recently crowned the winner of the prestigious “Intern of the Year” award. Sophie believes her placement year will help secure her a graduate job.
When researching placement opportunities Sophie knew she wanted variety in her placement, to enable her to gain as much experience as possible. “I wanted a varied placement, not one focused on just one part of a business. As a Placement Management Trainee at Enterprise I’ve learnt so much from customer service, marketing, finance and sales to the day to day running of a business. These skills and the commercial awareness I’ve gained on placement is something that I can take away and use in my final year at university and after I graduate.”
But that’s not the only experience she’s gained during her placement year “I’ve got involved in diversity, equity and inclusion projects which have been really fun. Getting involved in so much means my confidence has skyrocketed. With the support from management and the professional development you receive, I’ve been able to overcome any challenges I’ve faced during my placement.”
A placement year in Enterprise opens the doors to the whole business and you enjoy the same benefits as those on the graduate programme. Placement students and graduates go through the same development and training with the same promotion opportunities. Within 8 months of starting the placement, Sophie completed her Management Qualification training with a score of 94% and was promoted to Management Assistant. This was a huge achievement: “When I first started my placement, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pass my qualification before returning to university but with all the development and training available to me, I did it in just 8 months. I’ve also been given the opportunity to experience an Assistant Managers role and gain experience of their day-to-day responsibilities.”
Sophie made sure she got the best out of her placement with Enterprise “I’ve won the customer service and sales competitions and consistently placed in the top 5. I most recently won the “Intern of the Year” Award. Getting this recognition gives Sophie a fantastic achievement to talk about when applying for graduate jobs, but she also gained much more: “I developed a lot of confidence through presenting and networking to senior management. My presentation skills are completely different from when I first presented to my area manager, to most recently presenting to senior management.” But that wasn’t everything, she also received £5000! Some of it, Sophie shares, will be spent on travelling parts of Italy, from Milan to the Amalfi Coast!
After reflecting on the highlights and experiences she gained during her placement year, she says “I 100 percent believe I am now better placed in securing a job after graduating because of my placement.” Sophie goes on to say, “It was beneficial to do a placement as it is so difficult to set yourself apart from other people when you graduate; a placement experience will help you stand out.”
Interested in working for a company ranked second among top placement employers? Then browse our website for placement and internship opportunities. If you’re thinking about what you’ll do after graduation, then check out our graduate management trainee job and apply for opportunities around the UK today.