Argos Induction Day

Yesterday I was in Milton Keynes, having my placement induction at the Argos Head Office. I travelled down from Birmingham on Tuesday night and stayed overnight in the nearby Travelodge; I was a little scared because I'd never stayed overnight in a hotel on my own before, plus I had a massive family room with no-one to fill it! On the evening I arrived, I met my future flatmate, Bridget, who is also doing a marketing placement; she was lovely and I think we will get on really well!

On the day of the induction, after lugging our cases to the office in the miserable rain, we finally met 3 other placement students after some communication over Facebook. They were all really friendly and chatty, so I think we will make a good bunch and get along throughout the year. We went for a general introduction with all of our managers and the HR team, who seemed really excited for us to start; I hope we live up to their expectations! All of the staff were approachable and bubbly, which makes the work environment that little less intimidating. We then got taken around the office and introduced to the teams we will be working with. I will be on the 'New Content' team, so I will be deciding how to present the products on all the different channels that customers view, in the best possible way.

The next stage of the day involved being taken to the photography studio, where all the pictures and videos are made for the catalogues and website. This part was really interesting, as we saw first-hand how everyone's work from the office got pulled together for the final presentation of the products.

By this time, I was reallly hungry, so I was happy when we got told it was time for dinner! We got taken to Zizzi's which I was quite excited about because I had never been before. I really enjoyed the food; I had a chicken, tomato and rosemary pasta! I'll definitely be visiting again because it is right under our flat!

After dinner, we went on a walking tour of the area and got shown all the main attractions, including the shops, theatre district and xscape centre - unfortunately, I didn't know this was part of the itinerary until the day, so my choice of wearing heels was not the best decision! There was a particularly strong theme of pointing out good bars during the tour which was very useful!

Finally, we went to All Bar One with our managers and also met two of the current placement students there. It was nice to talk to people who had experienced what we will be doing and they seemed to have enjoyed their time at Argos which was good to know!

I had a really good induction day and am pleased that the staff are taking good care of us and are so friendly. It's made me even more excited to start on the 17th June, and it's made it 'feel real' visiting again, as the last time I visited I was being assessed for the role! Although the process of finding a placement is long and draining, I definitely think I will gain a lot from going on placement, and I am really looking forward to the experience!