Marketing Assistant Review

I absolutely loved my year at ProspectSoft. The varied experience and opportunities mixed with the amount of responsibility I was given meant that I learnt an incredible amount, far more than I expected. I was actually surprised with how much responsibly I was given which I loved as that meant I could have a varied experience, working in teams, managing projects and develop skills which I didn’t think I would be able to. Another main reason for why I loved it so much, was because of my team and the people I worked with. It truly has a great culture, with many describing the company as a family, and for good reason as it’s a fun and enjoyable environment to work in, making each day something I looked forward to.

Very valued. Like I said ProspectSoft is known for having a great family like culture which I definitely experienced during my time there. We were all treated as if we were full time employees with all managers encouraging and supporting our ideas even if it was something that didn’t match our job specification. Any piece of work I did, I was thanked and praised and received good feedback so that I could continue developing. My achievements throughout the year would be mentioned in our monthly company meeting, all little things which weren’t necessary for them to do, but really made a big difference to my time there.

I feel Prospectsoft have a really good approach to supporting and guiding their placements. At the start of the year we are all given a month of training by their specialists to ensure we had a good base of understanding, but then throughout the year, your managers are there when you need them. If I had any queries or questions or simply wanted some advice on a piece of work, I could turn to not only my manager or supervisor but literally any employee, and they would be more than happy to help. I think this is because they are used to having placements every year, it’s imbedded in their culture, with many previously being placements themselves, so appreciate and understand the position we are in and therefore are so willing to help.

I think I had just about the right amount of work to ensure I was busy but not overworked and stressed. Obviously workloads fluctuate throughout the year but I never felt as if I had to find work to keep myself busy or work late every night to keep up with the work. The managers are very good, we would have weekly meetings to discuss our projects and our workloads so if we were stressed with work, they would be there to balance it out and make sure we didn’t have too much to do.

Responsibility is always a word I have used when describing my placement year to others. I was actually really surprised with the amount of responsibility I was given which is just fantastic – that is exactly what I wanted out of a placement year. And I think it’s because of the fact that the company is a small to medium sized business, which makes this possible. I don’t think a massive organisation would be able to give me, even if they wanted to, the amount of responsibility that I have been able to have at ProspectSoft. From running the company’s whole online presence, editing the placement and corporate website, running the whole recruitment process, helping to run and organise our big launch event at the Olympic park, blogging, email marketing campaigns and much more - it has been amazing!

I have no doubt that the skills, knowledge and simply just my work ethic that I have been able to develop this year will be invaluable for my final year at University and for my future career. I have been able to put the knowledge that I gained in my first few years of university and apply it to real life situations, developing my knowledge and understanding of particular areas in marketing that I am interested in. I have also attained skills that I wasn’t expecting to learn such as a little bit of coding which will only be a benefit for my future.

The office has a really fun and enjoyable atmosphere. And because a lot of the employees are returning placement students, the company has got quite a young culture which I think makes it the perfect environment for placements to thrive. I also think that the atmosphere is quite caring in the sense that everyone is a team player. If I was doing a project in one department, and wanted to ask someone from another department for their help, I know they wouldn’t hesitate to help me.

Very organised, like I previously mentioned, we had an initial training month at the start to go over everything we would need to know to do our jobs, and to go over what we should expect out of the year. Then throughout the year we had various appraisals with our managers to discuss how everything was going, if there was anything I wanted to improve, or any projects I wanted to get involved in, and then discussed my plans and goals for the rest of the placement.

They invested a lot and I think it’s because of their ethos that they have with placements whereby their mentality is not to just have you for a year, but they recruit you and nurture you on the basis that there is a high chance you will return, so is therefore worth all the time and investment. I went to various internal training sessions related to my work, I also went to a few training and exhibition sessions in London. If there were any online seminars which interested me and related to my work, I was encouraged to join and listen to them. Even if my colleagues or managers had some training or had an event to go to which they thought might be beneficial for myself, they would encourage me to go. I was always encouraged to improve my skills set and develop my knowledge so that I could get the most out of my year.

Very appealing. The placement scheme at ProspectSoft is very established, and it is clear when you start working there, why it has won so many awards and why it has such a good reputation. And because of this, it comes as no surprise that over 51% of placements return as full time employees. I have thoroughly enjoyed my year there and would love to be part of the team again in the future!

Definitely, the company even has its own social committee. Throughout the year we had various social activities be it to the cinema, pubs, sporting activities, dinners, BBQ’s, nights out in Oxford, a company ball. And as I was a member of the social committee I know they have lots more planned for the coming years.

As Stokenchurch is situated between High Wycombe and Oxford there is lots of choice for housing. High Wycombe has some reasonably priced houses and flats which is where I lived this year and felt I was paying a reasonable amount taking my pay into consideration. However, as Oxford has two universities, there is lots of student accommodation available there which is a lot cheaper. I would just recommend to apply for housing as soon as possible as all student accommodation there is in high demand. With regards to socialising, obviously a student city is equipped with lots of activities and things to do which meant that most of our social activities where either in or close to Oxford.

Stokenchurch hasn’t got many places to go out, accept for a couple of pups and restaurants (which are nice). But Oxford has everything that you would need or want to have a good night, which is where I went out the most. You can go out in High Wycombe which I actually hadn’t tried as I was more than happy with Oxford, but that’s an option too. Finally, if neither of those options sound attractive, from High Wycombe it only takes 20 mins to get into London which obviously has everything there and is an option too.

Yes, activities to get involved in included things like games nights, rock climbing, 5 aside football, tennis, golf and with the social committee up and running there will be plenty more planned for the coming years. They are a fun bunch, so if you felt there was an activity that you think people would like, you would just have to raise the idea and help organise it and I am sure people would be keen.