Chalfont St Giles, England, United Kingdom
I completed my placement year in Düsseldorf, Germany. I worked at Moree, a company who design and manufacture high quality and distinctive illuminated furniture. During my time with Moree I worked on a number of projects, varying from product styling to mechanical mechanisms. This included concept generation, 3D CAD modelling and rendering, hand model making, research and development throughout projects, patent drawings, trade show booth design and construction, and graphic and web design. This proved to be an extremely valuable experience for me as I was able to gain a real world understanding of how the design process works and it really helped me to understand which direction I want my career to go in. I also saw tremendous improvements in my design skills as well as my own personal development. (Reference available upon request)
To earn money whilst studying at college I did a lot of garden maintenance around Buckinghamshire. I travelled to 15 jobs a week with my boss keeping the gardens in their best condition. This included cutting lawns, trimming hedges, weeding, cleaning patios pools and ponds. I really enjoyed this job, it allowed me to become very independent as the hours were flexible and I could work them around other commitments. This job taught me a lot about meeting customer needs and respecting people’s property.
I worked at Budgens for three years whilst still at school and learned a lot about customer service and communication. I handled cash and credit cards, dealt with refunds and customer queries, stock counting, rotation, product displays and training new staff. I was made a Supervisor which gave me additional responsibilities. I had to organise staff, make sure all money was put away safely in the evening and the store was all locked up. On a Saturday I worked on the delicatessen counter. This included preparing food, cleaning and using various machines. This made me very aware of health and safety regulations in the work place. I was responsible for making sure all the food was presented well and appealed to customers. High attention to detail was important in this role.