Customer Service Assistant Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Golfbreaks throughout my placement year. We were given a lot of responsibility from the offset and I made some really good friends whilst working there.

I definitely felt comfortable and valued by my colleagues as we were given the same responsibility and trusted to achieve the same goals. This meant no one looked down on you and other colleagues and managers were there if you needed anything or any help.

Every month we would have 1-1s where our manager would go through our statistics and we would talk about how the month had gone and if there had been any issues. This was great as they would give in-depth feedback and things to improve on. We could also go to our managers whenever we had any problems or queries and they would happily help us out.

The level of work varied depending on the time of year. In Travel season we would be really busy with answering a lot of calls/emails and queries but In the quieter months it would be really quiet and often we would help out with admin or live chat.

We were given as much responsibility as any one else in the team with taking on tasks and having a private work flow where we could monitor and then check off when each task had been completed. We would also be given tasks from our mangers who would delegate different tasks to the whole team which we completed but could ask for help if we did not understand.

The biggest skill I developed was my confidence as we were thrown in the deep end. I would now feel more confident integrating into difficult situations which I can take with me to my future career. I also learn the importance of time management skills which will definitely help me going back to university next year so that I can prioritise and ensure that my work is done on time.

I worked in the contact centre which is very open planned. The atmosphere always has a buzz to it and even in the busy periods it felt like everyone was working together and you felt like part of a team.

I think the placement is well set up. You have a two week training course where you learn how to use the systems and skills and then have shadowing and 1 to 1 training with other members of the team. This means when you start on your own you have an idea of how everything works.

As mentioned previously, we had meetings with our managers who would give us feedback and how to improve on different aspects which meant that I personally developed a lot and became a confident able agent by the time I left.

Golfbreaks are a great company and lots of the managers were previous placement students. However it is disappointing that our placement had to end early due to Covid-19 and Golfbreaks did utilise the government scheme fully, which meant that quite a few students have to pay rent with 2 months no income.

The social scene was fantastic and every Friday lots of the company would go to the pub and socialise. I also made some really good friends on my placement and with the full timers and we would often do things after work and on weekends with each other. There is also social events that go on throughout the year with your team which is a great way to bond and get to know each other on a deeper level.

The cost of living in Windsor was really high. If you don't drive the closest supermarkets are M&S and Waitrose and the pubs could have high prices for drinks, however there were a few pubs that we went to which wasn't as expensive. It also did not cost a lot to travel into London on the weekends if you have a rail card.

The nightlife in Windsor was good, they had lots of bars and a few clubs which meant that there was always somewhere to go on the weekdays and weekends.

There was a football team put together for the boys and there was also activities for the girls to get involved with such as golf nights.