Lucy Darwen

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Placement: Marks & Spencer

During a retail placement with Marks & Spencer you learn the role of a Commercial Manager. This meant in my role I followed the performance of my business unit using weekly and daily figures, implemented business policies to make sure we were up to date with M&S priorities, engaged with section managers and staff in order to achieve tasks, and whilst doing so communicated with the wider commercial team, including the store and regional managers.

The aim is for your area to be a success by meeting the standards and sales targets set by the business and, sometimes even more challenging, the targets and goals set and agreed by you!

There is a great structure to the placement scheme which means you get chance to work in the many different sides of an M&S store including clothes and home, food, finance, operations and visual merchandising all whilst building a network of people willing to support you.

As a placement student you are treated no differently to a graduate; you follow the same programme and people have the same expectations of you, and this is to your advantage. One opportunity I had was supporting the opening of a brand new M&S store in Prestatyn. In two weeks a store that started as a shell of empty space was transformed into a fully running M&S that looked completely perfect. An opening day full of celebrations, prizes, food demonstrations, fashion shows and customers was attended by the regional and head office team and was a personal highlight.

Outside of stores and offices, M&S offer great chances to be involved. A few events that come to mind include a very windy Plan A beach clean and a very memorable 24-hour bike ride! Supported by the fundraising efforts of staff in store and the generous donations of friends and family that bike ride raised over £1million for five cancer charities and was one of the hardest yet best things I have ever done!