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Where did you do your placement and what type of business was this?

I completed my placement year at Toyota GB - The head office for all operations for Toyota & Lexus in the UK. The team of over 500 employees covered everything from vehicle logistics, marketing, supply planning, customer experience, Network operations, financial & insurance services, product and many more. We managed partnerships with a Network of 183 Toyota Centres and 52 Lexus Centres across the UK and Northern Ireland, and worked closely with colleagues across Europe and the European Headquarters in Brussels.

What was your job role at Toyota GB?

My role was working within the Customer Experience Data & Insights team.

In my role, it was my responsibility to analyse Toyota GBs customer experience measures, sharing my findings throughout the business. I analysed a number of key customer experience measures, including the extensive survey programme which received over 15,000 responses every month across New & Used vehicle purchase, Service and Prospective customers. As well as this, I analysed results from our Mystery Shop programme, in which ‘Mystery Shoppers’ would visit every Centre on a monthly basis and complete the full process of purchasing a vehicle, discretely recording their experience and scoring it based on a comprehensive set of measures. It was my responsibility to identify strengths and weaknesses in the Network and share findings with key stakeholders across the business.

Briefly describe what your job role required you to do.

I collated my findings on a monthly basis into a number of key reports to be shared with different stakeholders around the business. I was responsible for the primary piece of output within my team; a large report that I produced and presented to my department director, summarising the key themes and trends that we observed across the customer experience programmes on a monthly basis. My work was then presented by my department director to the board of directors and President of Toyota GB. The goal of the report was to share with the whole business the voice of our customers so that we could understand our strengths and weaknesses. Understanding these opportunities for improvement would allow us to change our processes and drive improved commercial opportunities. It really did feel like the work made a difference to the whole organisation. 

Alongside these key outputs, I would present my findings to other teams and departments across the business to keep them regularly updated on what our customers were telling us, and became the go-to person within the business for any ad-hoc research or reporting into customer experience. I worked closely with the Operations teams and the Centre Network across the country to understand root causes of any difficulties that we observed, and had the opportunity to work alongside colleagues across Europe on pan-European initiatives. 

Why did you choose to add a placement to your degree?

I chose to complete a placement as part of my degree to further develop my skill set, workplace knowledge and to improve my CV. I wanted to stand out from others with the same degree as myself, and have tangible experiences to discuss with potential future employers. I also gained a Network of professional friends and developed contacts that could be greatly beneficial to me in the future. I have gained a huge number of business critical skills that I believe will stand me in good stead for future employment.

What did you enjoy most about being on a work placement?

The most enjoyable part of my placement was knowing that my contributions were making a genuine and tangible difference to a large multinational company. We generated and unearthed some key findings through our analysis that have led to real changes in the way our Network operates. Having my work presented to the very top level of management within the organisation, and receiving praise from my director in the process, was greatly rewarding.

Were you able to apply any learnings from your course to your job role and if so how and what were they?

I developed a very strong critical eye for data analysis, that will stand me in good stead for my final year and future employment. Working with large data sets was the basis of all of my work. This helped me learn to see the nuances and finer details when working with large sets. I was able to learn to critically analyse findings, and understand how best to present my findings for different audiences in a clear and concise manner.

Was there anything that surprised you about the placement?

I was pleasantly surprised at the level of responsibility that I was given on my placement. I had a bit of a preconception that a placement year student would be given simple and boring jobs that other people did not want to be doing. This was not the case at all for me. I had a number of key responsibilities that involved working with senior management teams and directors, and was given ownership of key pieces of output. There was a level of trust that came alongside this. I slightly expected to be micromanaged to an extent, but was allowed and trusted to complete my work and do my on thing, with much less supervision than expected.

What advice would you give students who are considering going on a work placement?

Make sure you do some research into your employers and what other students have said about their placement years in previous years. Rate My Placement is a good place for this. Toyota GB was rated as the best medium sized student employer which was a big factor that led me to choose Toyota over other offers. 

Don’t worry too much about how specific the role is to what you want to do in the future. Of course it should be relevant, but if it is not exactly what you want to do then it doesn't matter too much. You will still be able to build a huge number of skills that will be beneficial to future job applications. 

What are your plans for your future and did going on placement affect these?

I have definitely returned to Uni with a lot more motivation than I had in my second year, which has already been beneficial in the first few weeks back in third year. I have decided to take a year out to travel once completing third year. During this year I will be deciding what my next steps will be. I have received an offer to return to Toyota after my studies, which I will definitely be considering. It is undecided yet if I will accept this offer, or take the skills that I have acquired down a different route of work.