My original plan for work experience was to gain more knowledge and experience in the management position, I felt that although I had a great deal of knowledge in the travel and tourism industry, I didn’t have any experience in management and by carrying this out it would significantly improve my confidence.

For my work experience I thought it would be a good idea to shadow a manager, as it would give me an insight of what it would be like to handle a team etc… also this is different to what I have done in the past, I’ve decided to do my work experience at Superdrug which I know is not tourism related but I thought I would try something that was not related and work In the management department.  The ten days I was here I covered several management jobs including cash handling, cashing up, stocktake, deliveries and I also got a chance to work on the tills which gave me the chance to see what its like to be a manager and run a shop floor.

During my time at Superdrug I had a mixture of feelings, on my first day I was extremely nervous and felt like it was a waste of time and I would not gain anything but then as the days went on I started to become more relaxed and was really enjoying my time there and I did not want to leave when I came to and, the experience has made me realise it is something I want to do. When the store manager told me my plan for the time I was there be doing, and I felt satisfied that I would learn new thing from the experience. I was very anxious when I came to doing all the banking as I didn’t feel I would be able to understand the concept of it all as I have always struggled with maths and finance etc…  

i am very pleased with myself for completing my work experience, regarding my development plan i mentioned in my weaknesses is numeracy, which completing certain tasks during my working experience has gained me more confidence and knowledge which all helps towards my future career.
a few tasks such as all the data coding, tester orders and banking took me a couple of days to get the hang of. Delivery which was stock handling, putting stock out etc.. i got the hang of this very quickly, although it took me 1 whole day to figure out the whole shop and familiarise myself with each section for example (Hair care isle 3).

Overall my experience was excellent as I got to work with managers which was to show me their roles, even though I couldn’t go over every job role as it was only a short amount of time. I was very pleased with what I did learn, and I feel like I’ve benefitted from this, this has given me confidence in what I want to go into once I have finished my HND tourism management. This experience gave me a number of skills including confidence skills, customer service skills, financial skills etc…

Teamwork was a big skill here at Superdrug, everyday all the staff worked as a big team; we would all work together such as help each other set the star buy’s up, tidy the store, manage the tills etc… “The better you work with others, the more successful your team will be in achieving their goals. Employees often need to collaborate or work with others to complete tasks and projects – having teamwork skills and experience will make it a much better experience.”(“What Are Teamwork Skills | Build Skills For Life And Work | Young Professional – Youth Employment UK”, 2019)

Before I started at Superdrug, I sent a plan of what I wanted to do, they spoke to me in further details about myself for example what I study, what I like doing which is what the store manager used to work out the plan for what was suitable for me to cover etc…  this demonstrates my insistence.

In conclusion from my time working at Superdrug I learnt all the different roles in a management position that I have not had any experience in, I was really nervous to start and I don’t understand why I was as I feel I thought too much into all the aspects, also people that worked there as a manager had no experience as a manager before hand which actually made me feel a lot better in the position.  Each staff member that worked here all worked together. I have decided that due to enjoying the role it is something I would like to pursue when I finish my HND until I decide I want to go ahead and be an air hostess.

If I was to work experience over again, firstly I would ask if we could have more than ten days this way there will be more time to experience more, then I would maybe research into another company or even look into shadowing a manager in the tourism industry which would give me a better insight in the tourism industry and better knowledge in a bigger company.

References:

What Are Teamwork Skills | Build Skills For Life And Work | Young Professional – Youth Employment UK. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.youthemployment.org.uk/young-professional-training/teamwork-skills-young-professional/