TSG Sales Support Review

My Job could be be quite repetitive at times, however, HP give you many responsibilities and individual projects to carry through which kept the job relatively enjoyable. The team spirit shown and the general work place environment also made my placement enjoyable.

I didn't expect to feel as valued by my colleagues as I did. As soon as I joined I was part of the team and everyone in the team was very willing to get to know me and help me develop on my placement year. Once I found my feet and became quick and efficient at tasks that my colleagues involved me in, I felt highly valued. This was mainly because they treated me as a colleague, listened to my views and didn't just see me as the intern.

My management really helped me develop with their support and guidance. I was assigned mentors (Graduates in my team), a team leader and had my manager for support. My team leader is keen to have monthly one to ones to see how I am doing, give feedback, ask and see what I am doing to develop and how and what I can develop further. My manager and Mentors are always asking how I'm finding the role and so forth.

On a daily Basis, too busy!!! Working in a sales team, some days particuarly towards the end of the month were very busy, often resulting in me missing my lunch break and working very long days. Th eoverall balance though was just right, as some days were quiet which allowed you to relax and work at an easy pace.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility, from reporting to my manger to the head of business units in the UK and Europe. I was tasked with organising training events for sales reps, which meant liasing with people in Europe also. My main responsibility though was to construct a forecasting tool for my direct manager, which he used to report his forecasted figures to his management. This amounted in a great deal off resposnsibility and pressure to get it done and to make sure it worked correctly. This meant daily checks and maintenance to make sure that it worked correctly at all times.

The skills that I developed will help me no end I'm sure. My organisational skills, planning skills and prioritisation skills will help when trying to complete my dissertation and my workload in general. I used to rush assignments at the last minute which often limited the quality of my work. I feel the skills that I used and developed will help me improve this in my final year.

The atmosphere was really good. It's a very laid back office, with open space and really good balance between fun and work. All employees, no matter how high in the ladder you work, worked close to each other and there were no barriers stopping you from networking. There were always some sort of events planend through the year from cinema screening to coffee talks with the head of UK and I which also improve dthe atmosphere.

The placement scheme was organised very well. before I had started the job, the whole interviewing process was very easy and relaxed and HP were very good at keeping in close contact with you. The inter tha I replaced also called me before I starte dthe job to answer any questions etc. Once I arrived, I was given a really good introduction to HP with workshops and visits which introduced me to the company really well. The intern I was replacing was also there for my first month to guide me and show me how to fulfill my role which was also very helpful!! After the intern had left there were no worries as HP's placement officers are very easy to talk too and very helpful at all times.

The online training HP provide and the training I received from individuals that I worked with was brilliant. My manager was also very keen for me to develop further and was alwayus very keen on allowing me to train and develop, for example allowingme to go on an excel trainign course to further develop my knowledge and skills on Excel.

The prospects are there for me to grab with two hands. The Graduate scheme looks really good and offers a real chance to start my career on a high. The graduates who I worked with really enjoyed their roles and gave positive feedback on the scheme and highly recommended it.

The social scene among all the interns was pretty good, with many events throughout the year. The interns had an active social committee of which I was events organiser. we ran many events through the year and also had many good nights out.

I lived back home on my placement so the living side of things were easy. It was socialising which I found harder as most the other interns lived far away and I also had my close group of friends from back home who I would also see, limiting my chance to be heavily involved with socialising out side of work.

The night life is quite good - if you avoid bracknell! Reading, Windsor, Wokingham and even London are all easily accessible and are all great places to have a night out.

There were quite a few chances to get involved in activities outisde of work, mainly sporting. This was helped by HP having their own football pitch at the back off work which allowed us to organise games against different departments, Grads and Permanent employees.