My Co-Op story began in 2014, back when I was completing my final semester at AUT. I was searching Career Hub, (like 300 other students that semester!) because we were required to find a Co-Op placement where we could apply all of the theory that we’d been spending the last 3 years learning over a 9 week work experience placement.
As I looked through the pages of job ads I came across a familiar red logo that I was used to seeing as a shopper on a desperate mission to get something! I was looking to apply my marketing theory at a company that I could identify with and after seeing the striking red logo I thought…
The Warehouse – A kiwi retail success story, a large company that will give me breadth of experience and possible future career opportunities. – I’d better click through to read some more.
Clicking through to the job ad, I found a YouTube link to a video of previous Co-Op students, it was pretty cool to see that The Warehouse had had Co-Ops previously that actually looked like they were doing something worthwhile, meaningful and adding some value during their 9 weeks.
After some prompt emails from a super onto it recruitment team I set up an interview for the position of Employment Brand Coordinator at The Warehouse Group Support Office. The role was based in the Retail Careers Team and was a marketing orientated position but with a people focus. I met with the Employment Brand Manager who was just as excited as I was about how I would suit the Employment Brand role I’d applied for! And I was offered the placement.
Fast forward to Day 1 – My experience of applying for my Co Op placement with The Warehouse was immediately utilized, my insights from the recruitment experience were highly valuable and my manager even got me to make some changes to the Warehouse Stationery’s careers website on my very first day.
Over the 9 weeks, one of my main tasks was to handle the social media aspect of Employment Branding where I became a social media guru posting about the awesome people within The Warehouse Group. I got to coordinate interviews, coordinate photo shoots and share about peoples Retail Career using the famous hashtag #retailcareers! It was cool to have my manager pick out my strengths and give me tasks that I enjoyed, and although I hated it at first work on developing areas where I didn’t feel as comfortable. Another one of my tasks was to handle the Employment Brand reporting process measuring tangible data across the entire Employment Branding process.
It took a lot of trial and error but the experience of handling a project from the initial stages right through to a level where it could be reported to our head of department was a HUGE learning experience.
The 9 weeks flew by and I had my final 10,000 word assignment due date creeping up quickly! I found the Co-Op experience to be the perfect transition from the University lecture theater to a ‘real life’ workplace environment. I had plenty of experience to draw back on to crack my final assignment. I also learnt the importance of culture, the environment you work in, the people and the impact that these things can have on your working day which was definitely something that I wasn’t expecting to learn. The Warehouse Group Support Office is so fun, we had:
Dress up days, lunches out with the team, Nacho Thursdays and Mexican flash mobs to name a few!
So in summary I applied my marketing theory, I owned projects and was given accountability to make change. But more importantly I learnt the importance of the people that you work with, the time they are willing to invest in you, your learning and including you as part of their team.
Shortly after my Co-Op placement ended, I was offered to come back for a 3 month contract working in the brand new Sir Stephen Tindall Learning Centre extension with a specific focus on The Warehouse Group Financial Services. My new role had new challenges to overcome and I was super lucky to be offered something immediately after graduating and within the same company and team that has an awesome culture!
So, would I recommend you complete your Co-Op placement at The Warehouse Group? Definitely! If you want a placement that is challenging, rewarding and above all with a great culture then The Warehouse Group is where it’s at. If you’re keen to hear more from me about my Co-Op at The Warehouse Group, connect with me on Linked In and send me a message. Take a look on Career Hub for Co Op placements at The Warehouse Group.
What is Co-op? Co-op is an AUT paper that requires you to complete a 9 week work experience where the assignments are linked to your on the job experiences and you are asked to demonstrate how academic theory relates to a real life working environment. More info is available on the AUT website.
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