My placement year at BSH Home Appliances (so far)

My course, like most at Huddersfield, allows for a year in industry before its final year. I am currently fulfilling this opportunity at BSH Home Appliances in Milton Keynes.

My placement began in September following the completion of the second year of my course. This experience allows me to apply the knowledge and skills I have learned through my coursework in a professional setting, and gain valuable experience that will benefit me in my future career.

BSH Home Appliances is a leading global company in the home appliances sector, and the largest manufacturer in Europe.

The company represents several major brands, including Bosch, Siemens Home, Neff and Gaggenau. Each of these brands offers unique brand messaging, visuals, target audiences and other distinct characteristics, making the work at BSH very interesting due to the diversity and variety of the brands. Working across multiple brands makes the work at BSH exciting and dynamic.

This application process and the tools and advice I was given will help me in graduate life when going through future application processes. 

The application process for my placement began with submitting my CV and cover letter for the role, as well as filling out a general application form.

Following this, I had an initial interview with two managers and the current intern at the time. This first interview was relatively relaxed and informal, which was comforting and provided an opportunity for the recruiters to get to know me and learn more about my skills and experiences. It also was a great chance for me to understand the role and gain more knowledge about the company.

After the first interview, I was offered a second interview where I had to prepare a presentation. I was tasked with creating a marketing proposal for a specific Bosch product and given a list of criteria to include.

This was an excellent opportunity for me to showcase my marketing skills and demonstrate the value I could bring to the role, if selected. I enjoyed creating and presenting the proposal, and it was well received by the team. These types of situations can be daunting, but they are a great opportunity to show off your skills and make a good impression.

As a Digital Marketing Intern, my main responsibilities include managing some of my own and assisting my team in paid search and social marketing campaigns across various platforms, such as Google Search, Facebook, and Instagram. My role also includes working on various other projects that aim to optimise and improve the customer journey across different channels.

Since starting my internship, I have made a conscious effort to challenge myself and take advantage of every opportunity presented to me. Through this experience, I have been able to apply the marketing theory and knowledge obtained through my studies and gain valuable insight into the industry.

Besides the specific industry and role-based learning, my placement has also given me a great understanding of different ways of working. It has been interesting to "become an adult" and have a real job with responsibilities and a team, and work in a professional environment.

One thing I would recommend for anyone starting a new role is setting up introduction chats with everyone you may be working with. This helped me ease into the team informally and made future collaboration with people across other teams much easier, since we had already established that rapport.