I decided to do a placement as I wanted to get some useful experience over the summer to help me in advance of next year when I complete my degree. I felt that a placement would be a good way to gain an insight into different career paths, as well as gaining new skills in areas that I am interested in pursuing.
Speculative application
For my application, I emailed Moju with my CV and explained why I was interested in the company. I then had a skype interview with one of the directors and a member of the sales team. They asked me typical interview questions including what I knew about the company, picked up on different elements of my CV and asked me about myself and my skill set. I was then called for a second interview (this time face-to-face) and asked to prepare an A4 document containing the following: - An overview of the cold pressed juice market in the UK - An analysis of Moju’s main competitors - Who would you sell MOJU to and how would you go about it? The interview consisted of me talking through my responses, answering questions and explaining my ideas. I was also asked questions about different scenarios including examples of when I had acted using my initiative and when I had demonstrated a strong attention to detail.
• Analysing industry magazines such as ‘The Grocer’, to find relevant news in the industry that the team may be interested in. Following this I then wrote up reports weekly and circulated them to the entire team.
• Preparing online orders ensuring each parcel is created to a high standard, this included personalising postcards for different customers to prove their value to the company and forge a relationship.
• Preparing the Moju ‘point of sale’ which is distributed to cafes across the country and are often consumers first interaction with the brand
• Keeping record of competitors- I did this by exploring different locations where the target market shopped, looking out for new brands and recording their labels to ensure their marketing strategies and ingredient lists were noted.
• Preparing invoices for customers such as Sainsburys and Waitrose through accounting software such as unleashed, isupplier, wesupplier and Xero. This process had to be done with precision and accuracy as for a start up, successful relationships with these key customers is extremely essential to growth.
• Understanding how to place stock orders through the analysis of trends and skews, such as 4-week average sales and the previous weeks average sales. I also had to take into account factors such as how seasons effect consumer patterns.
• I represented the brand in stores such as Planet Organic, independent cafes and Harrods independently conducting sampling sessions. In these, I discussed the brand and its products, offering samples, gaining feedback and reporting back to the directors. In these sessions I spoke with managers asking which SKU’s were the most popular, what was the customer feedback and any improvements that could be made.
• I attended functions such as an NHSxTED talk to promote the brand- speaking with health professionals about the benefits of Moju. I also attended an Sweaty Betty and Moju collaboration, where I promoted both brands to the public.
• I also undertook general administration such as stock counts, organising stock logically, being the first point of call for customers/suppliers on the phone, writing applications for trade shows and had control over the Moju email.
• I wrote competitor reports based on how different brands were marketing their products and benchmarked factors such as USP, brand summaries, ingredients and nutrition. This report was then forwarded onto a food consultant to assist in developing a new product.
• Created spreadsheets, for example a sampling spreadsheet that monitors who was sent what and tracked deliveries. I then reported back to the sales team to ensure they could efficiently forge and maintain relationships.
• I communicated with Sainsburys managers that stocked Moju, investigating stock issues, and ensuring sales where matching up to forecasts. I would also question how performance compared to competitors and what could be done to improve any issues.
• Arrive into the office and complete any online orders and samples that needed to be sent out to potential stockists.
• Spend time invoicing the previous days Waitrose and Sainsburys invoices.
• Spend some time in different venues sampling Moju, promoting the brand and its new launches and gaining feedback from consumers. I would then write a report and have a meeting about my findings with the head of collaborations and marketing and one of the directors.
• Speaking with clients/couriers that had issues and coming to resolutions by using initiative.
• Creating research reports about competitors, suppliers and other products available on the market.
• Directly assisting the operations manager in day-to-day operations tasks such as stock forecasts, counts and administration.
• General office administration, acting as the first point of call via phone calls and email to solve issues and ensure smooth day-to-day running of the office.
• My favourite aspect of my placement was being part of a start up. This is because I was able to look into a company that was growing each day. I was able to assist each department (sales, marketing and operations) and learn from experts in each field. I also enjoyed meeting new people from different cultures and backgrounds and working together. Due to the fact Moju is a start up, it was key that everyone worked together to allow the company to grow.
• At first, I found making decisions using my initiative tricky as when I started I was nervous about making mistakes. However, as I gained confidence and an understanding of how things worked, this decision making aspect was something I really enjoyed.
The main skills I used from my course were research, writing and presenting based. For example, when writing reports and then presenting my findings to various colleagues. I also used my presenting skills when I attended events and led sampling sessions to promote the product. Speaking and presenting in seminars has boosted my confidence which was reflected in theses tasks. I also used similar analytical skills to approach tasks methodically.
• My placement has certainly highlighted my analytical side as I was able to work methodically through vast amounts of information. It also demonstrated that I am very keen to be involved in meeting different people as I particularly enjoyed the marketing roles and speaking to a vast amount of different people at the samplings. I also enjoyed reporting back my findings to the directors and key members of the team and found it exciting presenting my research.
• My piece of advice would be for students to get as much experience as they can, even if they don’t think they will necessarily go into that career. This is because its useful to see how a business works and develop new skills. It is also a great way to meet experts in industries/careers that you are interested in. I would also advise to look for experience in start-ups because of the opportunity to gain an insight into different departments of a company.
I would strongly recommend to other students that they would try to find whatever work experience they can.
Form completed: 06 Sep 2017