Assistant Support Consultant Review

I had a great time at Prospectsoft. The move away from Sheffield to oxford was a little daunting at times, but the Prospectsoft Familiarisation day, which allows all of the placements to meet and chat was a good way to meet my colleagues for the next year. 5 of us placements also decided to live together which turned out great.

I never felt like a placement student as I was always treated as any other member of the team. My colleagues always took the time to answer any questions I had towards the beginning of the placement and by the end I had as much responsibility as some of the permanent members of staff.

My manager has been supportive and happy to spend time reviewing my performance and setting new objectives as my university requires. When stuck with an issue i could always either ask my manager or a colleague for guidance. Working on support i ran into a lot of issues like this, so having someone to ask was extremely helpful.

How busy i was completely depended on the work load i chose to take on, On support we work out of a 'pool' of support issues, as a grew in confidence, not only on the phone talking to customers, but also tackling problems i began to solve and complete problems at a much faster rate. Which in turn allowed me to increase my workload.

I was given far more responsibility than I expected. As ProspectSoft is quite a small company, placements are treated as full time staff. They're needed just like full time staff and impact the business nearly as much. I took part in many in house projects and dealt with key customers every day.

I learnt softer skills, such as team working, career management etc.These are not generally taught at university, However a lot of what i learnt at prospectsoft is for their software, which if i never use prospectsoft again, i will never have the need for. Aside from this, general technical skills were improved and added to also.

Friendly and helpful. It’s very easy to get up and go and speak to somebody that will be able to help on a work project, and everybody is happy to help at any time. The account management team in the same office as us are brilliant and easy to get along with. Overall the atmosphere in the client services office was always upbeat, even when busy.

There was a Placement familiarisation day, which for the coming placements was great, five of us ended up living together in oxford and commuting to work. There is also a cross over period of about a month in august for the new placements and old placements to pass on their knowledge of what they've learnt. In terms of easing into the roll the system in place was perfect and training provided was extremely helpful.

I received a lot of start up training in order to be equipped for my role on support. After this we did regular seminars for different issues that would occur. My role didn't really allow for professional training as i was always needed on support. I did however complete a data importer and report writing courses which were run in-house.

There are lots of opportunities within prospectsoft and considering their main way of employing new people is through placements it would be highly appealing. I would highly recommend ProspectSoft to anyone wanting to learn more in a small business environment as in a large business i wouldn't feel quite as valued.

As i lived with 4 other ProspectSoft placements our social lives were quite good. I started going gym with one of my house mates and to the driving range (golf) with another. Work also organised 'game nights' or company outings which would even be paid for on certain occasions. For example at Christmas we went for a meal and then a comedy show in oxford.

Oxford was quite an expensive place to live, that being said we made it work. Finding a house without a living room made the price a little cheaper which in turn gave us a little more spending money. However as the office is in stokenchurch, we also commuted to and from work, for which carpooling saved us all some money too.

As Oxford is a student town the Nightlife was brilliant, Pubs and bars or clubs. . In oxford there is a club night every night of the week, there has also been lots of late night sporting activity organised by the company, such as badminton and 5 a side football.

There was some after work clubs such as game night and badminton or 5 a side football. We would also on occasion go to the pub after work for a pint and relax sometimes on a Friday, which has now become known as 'beer Friday'. We now finish at half 4 and can go relax on the Xbox or play pool with a beer or coke for half hour before going home.