My work experience with The Training Partnership Ltd

When my teacher told my class that 10 of us had the chance to travel to Torquay and participate a traineeship in an English company I was really interested.

When I got the message that I am one of those who will travel to Torquay I was really exited but also a little bit afraid. Away from home for seven weeks is a long time for me. I never stayed away from home that long.

Two work placements were assigned to me. My first three weeks I work at manpower and the last three weeks I work at The Training partnership.

When I started my traineeship at Manpower I was very nervous but that changed quickly. Marianne and Russ were so friendly to me and they really tried to do their best to involve me to their work. These three weeks were just great. I really enjoyed my time at manpower and I felt very comfortable. My tasks were simple and almost the same everyday but they didn’t bore me. I had a lot to do with the computer and their programme ‘Vision’. Also I had contact with customers and clients. I was part of as meeting at John Lake which was very interesting and the Lady there was just lovely. It was very interesting to see how Marianne managed her work. Her job is very stressful but I think that I helped her a lot. My working hours were from 9am to 5pm and I had one hour lunch break from 12-13 am.

I don’t felt comfortable enough to answer the phones, because it was my first time here in England and I don’t want to make any mistakes. You really have to focus on your work, because when you download all the information on vision you have to be careful and double check everything.

We also had a lot of fun together and they didn’t just talked about work they told me lots of things about events in Torquay especially about the Queen’s Jubilee.

All in all I am very satisfied with this work placement and my experience there. I don’t regret that I travelled to Torquay. I learned so much here and you have to enjoy your time here. There is just so much that you can see.

A big Thank you to The Training Partnership! And I hope that we will have a great time together in these three weeks.

Melina Dignas, German student at TTPL

Our South Devon College Work Experience Student

We were asked by SDC to host one of their Work Experience students...we said yes and have had Alex working with us...so, in her own words, here is her short blog...

'Recently I was given the opportunity to do one week work experience at The Training Partnership Company. In the short time I was here I have had such a good time, and have gained a lot of new experiences and skills,  I have been working alongside another work experience student who has been very helpful and a great supervisor. Everyone here is so nice and friendly and has really made me feel welcome here. The Training Partnership Company is a great place to work and feel privileged to have been a part of a worthwhile company and I would be delighted to be able to work here again in the future. Thanks to all the Training Partnership team.'

Alex Murray, Business and IT student, South Devon College

In our words; Alex has been an absolute delight to have in our office, she has worked very well and I am certain that she will be a real asset to any future employer...Thank you :0)

Marc and the Palm FM Bed

From Palm FM radio was forged Bed Month!! 

A crazy competition to enjoy and have fun with the listeners and one of them won a new bed to lie in and have good dreams! Maybe some Nightmare’s…

Jenny, Jo and Ben woke up one Sunday morning like the others, two hours after they were still in bed and they were thinking about how lucky they are to have a wonderful bed to rest and for once in life there minds connected. They were calling each other from the bed and they had the idea to make a competition, they are always so kind and they like so much to have fun and enjoy the job. 

The step after that was contact with the Training Partnership to take some guy to support the event and help them with all the stuff they needed to prepare, it was at this point when I was inside the project. Training Partnership contacted me (Marc Figueras) through the contact network and they said to me: keep your pyjamas on because you will be in bed all week!

From Marc Figueras I give thanks to the Training Partnership and Palm FM Radio to choose me in this event! It was one of the best experiences I’ve had in Devon! We were there each day in the week from 8 a.m to 10 a.m at different places (Torquay: Seafront, Babbacombe and Sainsburys  // Newton Abbot and Paington) making a broadcasting from the bed and all the listeners were invited to come and jump in the bed to have a photo with our team!! I was enjoying a lot, Jenny, Jo and Ben are so funny and they were always laughing and doing crazy things… Some people came to us when they were going to work with their car listenning the radio, and stopped to jump into bed and be part of the competition! Some others were only walking around where we were and were asking to us: What was happening here? However everybody wanted to jump in the bed!! Yes It was a really comfortable bed, easy to fix but really comfortable and all of them wanted to try it.

Others wanted to surprise us with bringing their kids, one of them newborn and she was so cute and smiling all the time. Someone else brought his mascot! It was a big tortoise and every one of us were playing with it and taking some good photos to it and then it was playing in the competition as well!!! But it was a tortoise and it couldn’t be the winner.. One man also gave us a present! It was a Teddy Winnie the pooh and Teddy Tigger and all of the children were playing with them when they came. Also we had our own competition because every day one of us needed to bring to the bed a Teddy and the worse one was from Jenny, it was so old and awful but every one was trying to be polite.. hehe

The last game we did was a pillow fight, it was Jo vs Ben and I was the Judge, it was so funny Ben hit Jo more times but at the end of the fight he broke my own rules that I decided! He fell off the bed and it was the main reason, he lost.. Jo was definitely the winner!!!

Thank you all for that experience I won’t forget it never in my life!!!

Wonderful life in Torquay

My Name is Jasmin Schneider (21), I’m from Donzdorf it’s a small town near Stuttgart (Germany). I do an apprenticeship as an office communication clerk at WMF, the market leader in cutlery, kitchen accessories and gastronomical coffee machines.

And now I spend 5 weeks in Torquay to improve my English and also to get work experience abroad. With eleven other students of the WMF, I arrived on Sunday the 1^st April. We just had a lovely welcome in Torquay and Paignton at our host families.

The first week started with the language course at the Riviera English School. We had to do a test at first. Then the teachers arranged different groups. The language course was quite good because we had the chance to decide what we wanted to learn or improve. We all get a certificate at the end of the course. As well in this week we tested the various fast food and take away restaurants at Fleet Street. But it’s not that good for our wallets. On Thursday I participated at my first student meeting. A walk to the small Village Cockington, but the weather was not really nice, so we drank tea and coffee at the Grand Hotel. It’s a good chance to meet other students.

At the Easter weekend from Friday to Monday we had much time to look around Torbay. For example we went on a boat trip. We visited the beach in Paignton and we also took the bus to Brixham. The bus connections in Torbay are very good, much better than in Germany. Especially we went shopping and we are all sure we love Primark. The nightlife in Torquay is very impressive because of the many crazy people coming over there to celebrate their stag party. On Sunday our host family, the Falconers, invited us for dinner. It was very delicious!

On Monday evening I felt very excited because of the start of the work placement at TTPL on Thursday. And now I can say that I’ll have a great time here in the office due to the fact that they are all friendly and helpful. Fortunately there are two other students, Suad from the Netherlands and Davinia from Spain, doing their internship at TTPL.