Sales Support Executive Review

Fufilling this role at Xerox has exceeded all expectations of a placement year. Not only have I been encouraged to succeed by managers, I feel motivated to do so,

I feel like a member of the business structure not just a placement student; I have a fantastic team and we all get no in and out of the workplace.

I have always had 100% support from my manager, he knows how important this year is to students and encouraged me to take on any tasks I feel would improve my list of skills and responsibilities. However he also trusted me with many tasks that would normally be assigned to himself.

Working in sales there is a prominent dchange in workload during the month/year. However time management is essential and you're never given anything that you wouldn't be able to cope with.

I was extremely proud to have been involved in the outlooking of Office equipment for the UK business. I would make sure the correct units of devices were ordered monthly, forecasting problems due to equipment constraint etc. Something which if went wrong would have huge repercussions as sales people would not have the equipment to sell.

Everything I have learnt whilst being a member of the Xerox workforce will help me in future employment. I hope that specific projects i have been involved in this year will help my understanding when completing my final degree year, my increased knowledge of a workforce structure and certain IT programs will indefinately benefit me whilst completing my degree.

Everyone in the workplace got on with eachother and there was lots of jokes and fun had, however due to the sales nature of the team the office oould also be quite quite as people were out of the office on customer visits and at other offices located around the country.

The organisation of the whole placement scheme could have been better managed, espcially when recruiting the new students for our replacements. However my specific managers and predecessors had everything covered for my start

Being a key user for the A2B programme I endured training on a number of soon to be launched processes. The training I was given was to enable me to go on a teach others. It's very nice to be involved in something like that as we are only at the company for a year so our replacements would need to be trained as well.

Xerox do not offer a GDP however they recently started a scheme that will see our year of students receive new job information before they go public. I have also made great contacts within the business who I could use in the future.

There are about 50-60 students at Xerox, and being situated in a university town there are many pubs, bars and clubs nearby. Living in rented student accomodations bring the student group closer together. Regular nights out/parties/cinema/dinner trips are organised to ensure we make the most of the social time at Xerox.

Living in greater London can be quite pricey although the local Uxbridge area isn't too bad. Socialising in Central London benefits females more as free entry is often granted so nights can be fairly cheap (a return 6 seater cab to central is about £10 each). Uxbridge has many shops, eateries and a cinema so everything you need is there. The tube line creates easy access to London and Westfields shopping area is quite close too.

I would recommend the bars rather than the clubs in Uxbridge. Brunel University is also based in Uxbridge so there is a student scene and bars have a good atmosphere. Getting a cab or the tube into central is so easy, giving you a wider choice of venues. Windsor and Watford are also favoured nights out.

For males there were the opportunities to play football regularly. Lots of students became members of a gym, as I said before there was also shopping, cinema and London in close proximity.