In my role, interpreting and solving problems is key. Based on what the customer tells me over the phone, I have to quickly identify what issues they’re experiencing. From this, I have to investigate these issues, and get back to the customer with a solution or the actions we will take going forward. I regularly deal with issues involving SQL reports – this has really improved my understanding of data manipulation and my general working knowledge of SQL. My role involves constant customer interaction, which at times can be daunting. But this regular contact with customers has enhanced my communication skills – I’ve learnt to be patient with people on the phone, and understand what’s necessary to provide great customer service to ensure our customers feel they had a good experience with us.

Challenging situations arise all the time in my role. During my year, I feel I’ve enhanced my time management skills and learnt how to deal with these challenging situations. These skills will definitely be beneficial to me during my final year at Uni and in the future.

I’ve also gained an understanding of how ProspectSoft’s own suite of software operates, which is transferrable to different technologies and industries. I’ve been given plenty of responsibility on my placement. Right from the beginning, I’ve been central to our Support team.

What’s great about ProspectSoft is that even if you do mistakes, your colleagues point out where it’s gone wrong and help you improve for next time (it’s all fun and games up until you take a website down because of a mis-click! Yes, I speak from personal experience). But the team at ProspectSoft know that a placement year is a student’s time to learn. Plus, most people here have been on a placement year themselves, so they’re really understanding and supportive.

ProspectSoft are very interested to hear about what placements want to get involved in. For example, alongside support, I was also interested in getting involved in the development side of things. After telling my line manager, I was given the opportunity to develop the dashboard, which is displayed in the CRM for the Customer Success Management Team to use. This analyses customer data and displays the results in a user-friendly format. 

I’ve made some great friends here too, and everyone is fun and sociable. There are lots of social activities that you can get involved in, including trampolining and games nights, as well as company BBQ’s, Christmas dinners and more.

I would love the opportunity to work here after Uni – the people are great, and ProspectSoft just feels like a big family!