Before starting my placement, I was both excited for the 13-month adventure ahead of me and nervous to step into the unknown realm of Technical Services. As well as being my first tech-based role, I still only half understood what ‘CRM’ was, I didn’t know the first thing about a ‘CMS’ and as for how ‘B2B’ systems worked, I was none the wiser. There was a lot that I knew I’d have to learn, and it’s fair to say that in the beginning, it seemed a little daunting.

The first month at ProspectSoft came quickly and I was far from home, living with a new group of people. Fortunately, I had already formed friendships with some of these good folks, thanks to the familiarisation day that ProspectSoft organised. This month was planned brilliantly to help the placements feel right at home in the company. The month itself was filled with all sorts of wondrous training activities held by different members of each department. This helped me to learn about all the different departments and how they each played their part in the business as a whole. It also generally helped in getting to know more people in the company. 

Already, by the time that both the training and shadowing was over, I was familiar with who was on my team, and felt ready to use both the CRM and the tools utilised in Technical Services. All I had left to conquer were the customer calls. I had initially prepared for the worst when taking my first call, overly worried about a plethora of situations that could go wrong. What if I froze and got lost for words? What if I couldn’t understand what the customer was saying? And what if… What if it went so horribly wrong that I’d be fired on the spot for my own incompetence?! 

It goes without saying that there was, of course, no need for concern. After taking my first few calls, it soon became clear that I had the best and most wonderfully supportive team to help me out for whenever I got confused and needed some guidance. I was bombarding my team with questions, yet they would still encourage me to ask more and to continue learning. I was reassured that it was okay not to know how to solve everything from the beginning and that I would always find myself learning new things throughout the year. I started in the deep end and have already learnt so much because of that, from Technical knowledge to working under new kinds of pressure. However, I have never felt overwhelmed thanks to this support. 

Overall, ProspectSoft has been beyond incredible for making me feel at home and part of the family. From all the social events I’ve been a part of, such as Beer Fridays, bouldering and after work meals, to the endless support given out by everybody; everything has helped me to settle in quickly but surely.