Experiencing The Workplace

Because of the changes made by Asda House to my work experience there I have had to contact Standfast and ask if I can start a week later.. this is abit frustrating as due to their shut down and then my holidays I will lose that week. I also hope that they are not offended and think I am taking the other placement more importantly.. it's just that I want to be able to do both!!

I had my confirmation off Asda House of the final dates for work experience but I have just emailed her to clarify as the first Monday is the last bank holiday in May and I'm not sure if they work then. Obviously in store we are open but often this is different in office work so I have sent a quick email just to check whilst I am researching accomodation.

Final confirmation of dates from Asda House.. I replied straight away and confirmed that I want to do the two weeks and will be sorting accomodation shortly. I will book train tickets when the accomodation is sorted too.

Lesson Learnt!! I was just about to book my accomodation and trains for Leeds-  work experience at Asda House - when I found an email off Claire Sanderson in the design team which had slipped into my Junk Folder. The email was to say something else has come up and they need to rearrange for the following weeks!! This is obviously too good an opportunity to pass up so I have agreed but it has thrown a spanner in the works in that accomodation has now gone up £50 p/wk and the experience now eats into the time I had arranged to go to Standfast & Barracks! So I now need to: - find more accomodation /pay the difference. - rearrange with Standfast (I am worried about this as they are already doing me a favour) - get cover for my shifts in work for the new dates of the placement. -book train tickets. It is also abit frustrating for me as I had planned the experience to be a continuation of my year at uni.. now I feel I will relax for two weeks and then have to get my head in g...

Preparing for work experience at Asda House I have been looking for accomodatiin and rail tickets. These are the best available prices and times I have found so far for the trains: Luckily I have a rail card anyway so this has taken the price down somewhat.. I haven' booked the tickets yet as I am waiting to see what I can book with regards to accomodatiin.  I still don't know if I will go the Sunday night or Monday morning.. Sunday night will probably be less stressfull but it will depend on the cost. If it get the train on Sunday the times/prices will be: It's £10 cheaper but an extra night at a hotel will probably cost much more so I will have to see on balance.  So far I have only managed to find accomodatiin at the cheapest is £170 per/week mon-fri and it goes up to £199 if it' sunday-Friday. .

I have started to plan my presentation I have started simply by adding 15 slides and some simple information that I already know I want/need to discuss. I don't want to add too much information as people won't read it and will get bored. I want to keep the layout clean and simple too so it doesn't distract from what I am saying! It's still very much a work in progress but I feel much better for having made a start! I need to be on top of this module as I am going on holiday the day after the presentation!!

Keeping track and making sure I post regularly has been quite hard for me as I am not very good with technology and try not to spend all my time attache to my phone.. I created a spreadsheet to try and organise my posts whish is something I saw done at Standfast and Barracks. I write the name of my post when I write one and mark it off once it has been posted.. this also helps to keep track of what I have already written about. It also helps me see the date of the last blog and when I haven't blogged.

Work experience at Asda House has been confirmed for the last two weeks of May so I'm really excited about that! All is left for me to do now is book my train tickets and arrange some accomo dating for the duration. It is just too far to commute everyday reasonably. Unfortunately at the minute it seems super expensive to stay too.. the cheapest accomo dating I've found has been £199 per week! I am going to continue looking to find the best deal - Im thinking about contacting some student accomo dario in Leeds to see if they accept short term lets and would have any availability.

I have today received confirmation of my work experience for Standfast & Barracks: I am really hoping that a longer work experience will mean I will have a chance to learn some new skills. I would particularly like to learn some software ones such as Photoshop or InDesign so I can take these forward into third year and I prove my work. This will also be a good opportunity to increase my network of contacts.

I have replied to Jessica Fryer at Standfast & Barracks and asked if I can do a day a week starting in June and upto their shut down at the end of July.. I have suggested I am available Tuesday or Wednesday so I can still work around it but offered them some flexibility.. fingers crossed I'll hear back from them soon!

Waiting for a reply when you have submitted your digital portfolio is stressfull!! But I have finally heard back from the design team at AsdaHouse and been invited for a two week work placement!! I won't be able to commute to and from Leeds as it will take me 3hrs each way so I need to sort some accomodation out - I have contacted Claire again to find out if it will be Mon-Fri or Monday to Saturday so I can arrange to have my shifts covered in work, and look for a place to stay.

After attending Standfast & Barracks for a day last week and taking into account what I learnt about the importance of work experience I emailed Jessica Fryer to not only thank her for the opportunity but to ask if I could do something more regularly or for a longer period. Today she emailed me back and said I was welcome to do return! I now just need to decide which would be easier to manage as I need to fit it in with work figure out the cost of travelling everyday or just staying somewhere for a week. At the moment I am thinking it would be better to going a day a week between finishing uni in May and their shut down at the end of June - which would only give me 8weeks - but also means I can maintain longer contact with the people there too!

On Monday 5th March I attended a day of work experience at Standfast & Barracks design studio. I participated in some menial tasks such as sorting out a sample store room and folding boxes but it was a good opportunity to see the work and the atmosphere in the office. I also got a tour of the factory - I attended an open day there last summer but it was exciting to see the factory working this time! I was also able to go around and chat to different members of the team which was invaluable. Jessica Fryer who I arranged the work experience with (acting manager of the design team whilst Mary Stansfield is on maternity leave) had been an apprentice with the company and only 4yrs later was in such a high position so that was quite inspiring. On the otherhand was the design interns who were saying how impossible it is to get a traditional job - everything is now internships from 6months to a year which means constantly moving around the country. I found this as abit of a shock.. I was...

Today we received general feedback about the mock interviews we took part in. I have made some notes about parts I felt were relevant to me and what I need to consider for next time. 1. Tell me abit about yourself.      Here I introduced myself as a mature student studying at Textiles. I didn't really say much more than this tbh.. I didn't introduce any of my personal intersts as this is usually a question asked later on and I didn't want to use up my answers all in one go.. however the opportunity never really came up and I came away feeling like I never portrayed myself as a person. Also, never took this opportunity to state that I already work for Asda! It should be clear on my cv and it obviously came up later but might of been clearer if I'd started with this - especially as it something I want to promote! 2. How are you finding your course?        I pretty much just said "yeah it's good" but then felt like I had to expand which I did, but i...

I have been communicating back and forth with Claire Sanderson at Asda House with regards to Work Experience with the George Home design team. She requested a digital portfolio so she can see my work, which I have provided and she has asked if I would like to do a 2 week placemt which is brilliant news!! Hopefully we are a step closer to arranging dates! All evidence has been provided below:

Using The Muse  website I have looked at some commom interview questions to get me thinking along the right lines in preparation for my mock interview on Wednesday. I have chosen to interview for a designer role on the George Home team at Asda House in Leeds. I have made quick notes in answer to the questions to jog my memory on specific areas I want to make sure I cover. 1. Tell me a little bit about yourself.      - travel      - surface pattern      - creative cravings 2. What do you know about the company?      - own experience      - information sourced for blog post about              Asda 3. How did you hear about the position?     - my manager told me about it 4. Why do you want this job?     - loved my time at Asda - need something creative and I want to work for a company that produces for rhe people around me. 5. Why shoul...

When I attended the Heritage Open Day at Standfast & Barracks in Lancaster last summer I had to contact Mary Stansfield to book places on the tour, when I attended the day itself I was told she is the person who organises all internships and work experience placements too.  So I have sent my cover letter and cv to Mary Stansfield asking for a days work experience to shadow their designs team. I quickly received an automated email back informing me she is currently on maternity leave but with an email address for Jessica Fryer who is in charge of student placements in the mean time. I have now contacted Jessica Fryer and await a response. (All evidence below)

Standfast & Barracks is a fabric printing company based in Lancaster. They are proud of their 90year history and the factory that opened in 1921. I attended the heritage open day there last summer and it was really interesting to see 'behind-the-scenes'. They like to focus on their history and expertise whilst marketing their new innovations at the same time. The 'About' page on their website is full of powerful and inspiring words such as: finest, experts, quality, passionate, focused, excellence, traditional, innovative, artisan, heritage, exceptional, style, skilled, brands and craftsmen. These words are repeated throughout the piece and in the following web pages to emphasise their point. The factory was practically destroyed by Storm Desmond in 2015. They took it as an opportunity to grow rand expand the business and in 2016 received the BIBA Gold Award for Best Manufacturer. To inspire designs they have a vast archive of documents upto 100years old....

Thinking about work placements and the work world in general reminded me of the website I set up whilst at college. During my hunt for work experience I have been asked for a digital portfolio which I have done using WeTransfer but the most common way to have a digital portfolio is a website. This means a prospective employer can view it at their leisure and the files don't take up any room on their computer. So now I am going to take the time to update the site and maintain it. I have started by updating the 'About Me' page which hasn't been updated for 2years! I have also taken some time to add some f the surface patterns I have designed since starting university. This is the most important part of my website as it is the area I want to go.into when I finish university. My Website: alexandrahoyle143.wixsite.com My next job will be to take some pictures of my work that can go under the titles 'other' and 'illustration' and update those se...

Started in 1965 by the Asquith family of butchers merged with Associated Diaries of Yorkshire. They expanded south in the 70s and 80s. At the end of the 80s started the clothing partnership with George Davies who founded NEXT. Asda House the company headquarters was opened in 1988 by  Margaret Thatcher. The company was hit hard in the 90s by the financial slump - in 1991 it was in serious trouble with £1billion in debt and close to bankruptcy. Credit for the turn around goes to Archie Norman who was CEO in 1991 and then Chairman 96-99 who remodelled the stores after Walmart in the USA sending his protégé over there to learn their ways. Walmart then bought the company in 1999 in £6.7 billion takeover. Though owned by the American giant Asda has kept its own British management team amd board since '99. Between 2003 - 2014 it was Britain' second largest supermarket, now currently positioned 3rd behind Tesco and Sainsbury's. In 2010 bought out Netto in a £778 million takeove...

I have been working as an Asda Home & Leisure Colleague for 6 years, I started as a Christmas temp and have been there through 3 store managers and 3 department managers. I have made lifelong friends at the store and the management team have supported me through college and now university. During my time at college I managed to arrange a day with the Merchandising team at Asda House in Leeds. I have since decided I want to be a designer not a merchandiser and so I applied to university. As part of my research for this year I am hoping to return and spend a day with George Home designers and visit the George Head office in Lutterworth spend a day with the fashion designers. Through my GM manager Linda Russell I have contacted Sebastian Christmas at Asda House who has agreed to my request - we are currently negotiating a date. And Michelle - George Area Manager who we have asked to connect us with the right person.

I have created a LinkedIn profile to help me grow my connections and hopefully it will gain  me opportunities for both Work Experience and jobs in the future. I have started by connecting with my class mates and university tutors. I have connected with my department manager at Asda - Linda Russell in the hopes that it will open doors at head office in Leeds and the George Head Office. I am hoping to get some work experience at both of these in the coming months. I am following the company profiles for Asda, Matalan, Standfast & Barracks and Laura Ashley too. I currently have 13 connections on LinkedIn:

I am hoping to get some work experience h the design department at Matalan this year. Here is some of the information I have found out about the company: Started in 1985 by John Hargreaves, it was originally a market stall.The first store was opened in 1985 in Preston; within 10 years there were 50 countrywide. This has now grown to 227 stores across the United Kingdom a Headquarters and a depot. There are even 25 franchised stores overseas. Products are sourced from 800 factories in 24 countries. Based in Knowsley, UK it has stayed close to its roots and prides itself on its family reputation. From the beginning Matalan's mission was to "provide outstanding value for modern families". They have received a Gold Award from Mumsnet for being 'Family Friendly' this is not just something applied to their customers but their staff and colleagues too. They complete Your Voice surveys to check on their happiness and help make improvements, have a Matalan Education ...

Explored some creative cvs on Pinterest and then tried to recreate some myself. I prefer the first three which use a surface pattern I have created during my time at UCLAN -the second a variation of the first. I think the second layout with the header has a bigger impact though. The last design is quite different from the others it shows off my illustration skills and the 3d development of my work - this could be used to apply for a different role other than surface pattern that maybe requires other skills. I think the last one has less impact than the previous ones but that may be due to less colour making it stand out less. The barcode also distract from the text of the cv.

I created a moodboard based upon my own emplyment preferences. I focused it upon. Surface Pattern Design roles that I want to apply for. The moodboard was a good way to visually explore the area I want to go into. I used it like a mind ap to explore my current thoughts on where I sit now experience and skills wise and what steps I need to take next to progress.