Client Services Assistant Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement year due to the extensive opportunities I was given. Not only did my job role exceed my expectations but also the range of social activities that ProspectSoft held for it's employees, even has it's own social committee! ProspectSoft also hold annual customer events and I was extremely lucky to be able to attend at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park!

When working in the account management team you are constantly supporting the account managers, who fully rely on your support. This continued respect made me feel incredibly valued by my fellow team members. Furthermore ProspectSoft ensures that their staff are rewarded for their commitment to the business as a whole. This gratitude is shown through the many social events they organised for the business as a whole, such as summer BBQs, Christmas parties and balls.

A large percentage of ProspectSoft staff members were returning placements, therefore everyone was understanding and supportive when a new placements starts. I always felt I could ask about anything, whether it be about my job or social aspects. Furthermore I was given routine appraisals to ensure I was getting what I wanted out of my placement year.

Working in an account management team you do need to be on the ball, as it is a fast paced environment. Coming from a retail background I found my work load fine to cope with. If there were any occasions (such as returning from holiday), where my work load had stacked up, then I was given the time to catch-up before any other work was passed over.

Working in an SME like ProspectSoft means that you are given a tremendous amount of responsibility. Within the first month of my placement I took over the Ireland re-seller channel which meant liaising with overseas directors and ensuring a positive rapport was kept with the re-seller channel. By the end of my placement I was running training sessions onsite at customer's offices, which was a huge responsibility as you are acting as the face of the company,

I study Business Management with Marketing at UWE, so working in the account management team has been a perfect experience for this type of course. One of my skills which was developed on my placement year was project management, this will be a key skill to utilize during my final year of university and beyond.

Client services consists of two teams which both work in the same room, for me this was great. Having two teams working together in the same room means there is never a dull moment and there is always something going on to entertain you. It's not a loud room however you never feel like you are on your own.

ProspectSoft have been running the placement scheme for a few years now, so they are really organised due to the experience they have with previous placements. Prior to even starting our placement there was a familiarization day, which was a great opportunity for placements who needed to find accommodation with other fellow placements. It was also a great chance to meet the team you would be working with for the next year.

I think what is really good about ProspectSoft's placement is the initial training you receive when you begin your placement year. The initial training lasts an entire month, consisting of demonstrations, tests and interactive sessions. After completing this intensive training course, I was able to transition into my job role smoothly.

ProspectSoft is great for promoting future career opportunities for placement students, a lot of it's current workforce are returning placement students (including my line manager and director!). ProspectSoft really do invest in their employees, sometimes even creating job roles to suit people's career aspirations.

As I have previously mentioned there are so many social events that are organised by fellow colleagues and placement students. We even had a social committee which arranged such activities like bowling, BBQs and balls! Not only are there social events but ProspectSoft also have sports teams such as Badminton and football!

I was the lucky one and was able to live at home whilst on placement, so cost of living was great for me! However the rest of the placements at ProspectSoft were able to live together as a result of the familiarization day. They lived in Oxford which can be pricey but there is a lot of student accommodation around Oxford. High Wycombe is also near to where ProspectSoft is based, which is slightly cheaper, so there are a few options. Placement students do really need a car though to get to ProspectSoft!

Oxford is about 20 minutes away and has a great student nightlife as there are two universities there. Not only does Oxford have a great nightlife but also has some lovely restaurants and fun activities to do during the day, such as punting! A lot of the returning placement students chose to live in Oxford as they loved it so much.

Yes! As mentioned before hand there are a range of social and sporting activities which you can get involved with. There is also an Xbox and lots of board games for gamers!