Sales and Marketing Assistant Review

I have really enjoyed my placement year. It has been both fun and challenging. Throughout the year I was encouraged to learn new skills and to develop the skills that I already had. The role was very flexible and I really felt like I made a difference to the company.

From the very beginning it was clear how much the company valued the placement students. With everyone, including the directors, taking time out of their schedules to train us and make sure that we were fully prepared for our roles. Further to the training, the staff at ProspectSoft are a brilliant group of people they have been friendly and helpful from the word go. Without exception I have really enjoyed working alongside them.

The Director of my department is Fantastic. He is a really great team leader and even when his own calendar was full he could always find time to help me if I needed it. He paid attention to which the areas that I enjoyed and made sure I had plenty of opportunities to pursue them.

The great thing about my role was that as well as having my set day-to-day tasks to complete I was given the opportunity to take part in as many other projects as I could handle. This meant it was up to me to balance my time and make sure I didn't have too little or too much on my plate.

I was given a lot of responsibility throughout my placement. From assessing CV's for the placement roles to editing parts of the website, I was given the opportunity to grow more confident in my decision making abilities, but, at the the time there my colleagues were more than happy to help me if I felt like I was out of my depth.

I don't think that 10 stars is enough here. During my placement all the skills that I have gained during previous work experience rolls along with a great many more have been advanced far further than I could have foreseen.

The atmosphere at ProspectSoft is very friendly which helped me get settled in straight away. Everyone at the company works hard but also understands that it is a team effort.

There are plenty of opportunities to discuss your overall progress with your manager at regular appraisals. Also, the placement competencies scheme allows you to discuss how got along with individual tasks in further detail.

During the first month with the company all placements are put on a thorough training course. The course is run by the directors as well as other members of staff who take time out of their usual schedules. This shows the level of commitment to the training and development of the placement students straight away. I found that when I started my role my manager used aLL the resources available to help me with taskS, this would range from asking someone to teach me how something worked to buying a piece of software which would mean I could complete tasks to a higher standard.

From the very beginning of the placement we were told to think of the year as a 13 month job interview and if we did well there was a high chance that we would be hired. So far 71% of placement students have been hired as permanent members of staff after graduating, which is a great incentive to work hard during your placement year.

I feel that the placements formed friendships really quickly this year and we regularly socialise outside of work, however, it is not just the placements who meet up out of the office. We were often joined by our colleagues for anything from trips to the cinema, to paint balling, to nights out. The company also organises plenty of official activities such as BBQs, Bowling and the annual ladies night.

Most of the socialising that we did took place in Oxford, which is a fairly expensive place to go out, however, as I was able to live at home during my year I was still able to save a lot of money.

Oxford is a nice place to go out, there are plenty of bars and clubs and if your feeling adventurous it is easy to get into London.

If there is not already something being organised by some one you can organise something yourself. There are always company wide emails being sent round asking who is interested in doing some sort of activity.