European Sales Consultant Review

Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. There were a few periods when it was very busy and could be a bit stressful, but the challenge makes it a lot more satisfying at the end of it.

Golfbreaks are a very young company and I was immediately felt welcome when I started. Almost everyone at the company were very down to earth and easy to get on with (especially the managers and directors). There were also a lot of social events and after-work activities like 5-a-side which were a good way to get to know people from other departments

Rich Clements was a fantastic manager and really led by example. Not only on a business level but at a personal level he was excellent. If ever there were any issues/problems or I felt that I needed help I wouldn't think twice about going to speak him.

For the majority of my placement I was busy and quite often worked an hour or so outside my working hours to make sure that the work was finished. It was actually surprising how quickly the day went as there was always something to do. Although I could never actually "finish" all my work as there were always more inquiries to deal with, it was for my own benefit, as the more work I got through, the more sales I would make. During the less busy periods I also worked in a couple of other departments within the company which was good experience

I was solely responsible for dealing with my clients from the moment that I first made contact with them to when I closed a sale. This also meant that if there were any problems at all with the clients golf break that was because of my actions, it would be up to me to resolve the issue

While the sales role that I worked in wasn't really directly related to my course (Business Studies), there were definitely a lot of attributes that I will take from the placement. I have really developed my communication skills from dealing with clients and suppliers on a daily basis. I have also really improved my time-management and organisational skills that I'm sure will help me in my final year. Also the general experience will definitely be useful for any other jobs that I go into in the future

I feel that the general atmosphere within the office was pretty good. Within the European sales team that I worked in it was okay. I think that it had ups and downs due to certain people joining and leaving the team within a short period of time. There is a solid team in place now though and I feel that things will definitely get better.

The placement office at Portsmouth Uni couldn't have been any more helpful in terms of finding me a suitable placement. The setup at golfbreaks was very good in terms of catering for my placement

I was given a lot of training, particularly on venue knowledge. As well as frequent training for certain areas/countries from the product managers we often had venues come in to do presentations. The highlight however was traveling abroad to play some of the courses and visit the hotels to get some first hand experience.

I was told that I if there was a position available that the golfbreaks would consider re-employing me

Definitely! We all got on very well and would quite often spend time with each other outside of work playing golf or going out etc.

I lived at home for my placement as it was just down the road from golfbreaks, so for me the cost of living was pretty good as I saved a lot of money on rent. Windsor isn't exactly the cheapest area to go out, but having lived there for my whole life I have got used to it. All my friends lived locally so for me I had plenty of things to do in my spare time.

There are quite a few places to go out in Windsor although a decent night out can quite often be expensive, particularly at weekends. If you're tight on cash I'd recommend Weatherspoons (about £2.10 for a pint), although there does tend to be a bit of riff-raff in there sometimes (but that's standard for any weatherspoons). After that there are quite a lot of clubs although the majority of times you will more than likely end up in liquid!

Being a golf tour operator we had the opportunity to play golf at a huge amount of golf courses which was great. There was also weekly 5-a-side football as well as after-work drinks down the pub on Friday evenings.