Sales Consultant UK Review

The placement was thoroughly enjoyable, from the moment I walked in the door I knew I had chose the right placement. The atmosphere of the office was great and the fact that you start with a large group of new students makes it much less daunting especially considering this was my first experience of an office environment. I initially applied for a customer service role and then after experiencing sales during my training I took it upon myself to ask if could move over to a sales role. Even though I had only been there 2 weeks the managers were very helpful and understanding and entrusted me to do take on the sales placement role and I didn't look back embracing the training and having a very successful year

I can imagine some placement students get put in the back office or on tea duty when on their placement but this was quite the opposite at Golfbreaks. The fact that around 20-30 students start at the same time makes you feel very secure within yourself and not intimidated by the situation of being in a new office, as a group of students we have bonded really well and its almost like a little family. The more you settle the more you come out of your shell and begin to make friends within the company and this ultimately helped with the respect that my colleagues had for me. I would also add that within a sales role if you perform well then people value your effort more and it really is a team effort to reach targets with everyone working towards the same goal.

After my initial two weeks of training was to complete a customer service placement year I was 2 weeks behind all the sales students after 2 weeks. My manager took me on with a limited skill set and provided me with a 2 week blitz of sales training in order to get me up to speed, this period was quite intense with a lot of one on one training as well as out of office work I needed to complete in order for me to be the best at my job. Looking back, this period was so important to my personal development in order for me to get the best out of placement year and I couldn't have done that without my manager. The training didn't stop there, we have had continuous top up sessions throughout the year which have continued to allow me to maximise my potential and ultimately have a successful placement

Golf is enjoyed by most in the summer months and this is reflected in the job, throughout the summer months we are very busy on a daily basis and there is plenty to do which is great. To combat quiet periods Golfbreaks implement marketing schemes in January and September to gain enquiries and keep up busy (in fact these are the busiest months). The quietist period came in October-December, to combat this the company let you explore other job roles to boost your CV, the provide fam trips for you to improve your product knowledge and encourage you to take holiday in this time

The responsibility you get after your first month of training is that of any full timer, and I cant stress enough how valued you feel as an employee by both fellow colleagues and managers alike. If you act like a full timer you will get treated like one, there has even been instances where placement students have been outperforming full timers and managers will embrace this and reward you accordingly.

A placement year I feel is one of the best thing I have done. It has sculpted me as a person and developed skills which I feel will help me in years to come. My organisational skills have developed noticeably as well as my IT skills and my confidence as person will help me complete my final year at university to the best of my ability. I also feel that as a university student coming out with a degree its very difficult to get a foot hold in the world of work but I feel this placement year will set me out from the crowd and give me a year experience as well as a degree

This is something that I feel is done significantly well within the company. Ultimately to be a good sales agent you need to know your product and coming in to the role I had little experience of UK golf venues. Within the first two weeks of the job the company organise a visit to 3 local venues and allow you to this within your working hours, this gives you a first hand viewpoint of the venue and you can then sell it with so much more confidence having been there. You effectively get free access to all the golf courses that we work with and i personally utilised this to not only give myself the enjoyment of playing the round but also getting experience whilst doing so. The company organise a number of other FAM trips during the year the most noticeable the week long one we do where we travel up and down the country.

As i have previously mentioned the students on my placement year bonded very well. No one was from around the area so we were all renting nearby which i feel played a massive role, we organised social events from the day we got there and this continued throughout the year even rubbing off on some of the full timers who tended to come a join us more often than not. The social building outside of work was portrayed in the office with an upbeat atmosphere within the workplace

Living in Windsor is expensive im not going to lie, its a posh area close to London and the cost of living is more than i had anticipated for. Having said that i have managed to go on a number of holidays and still survive the year on the wage that i have earnt. If you are sensible with your money outside of work and prioritise it for what you want then it is very easy to get through the year without living like a student, and it is very manageable. Having said that if you can live at home i would recommend to do so

Within a month of starting the full timers organised a student/full timer football 5 a side team that i was keen to participate in , this has ran through the whole of placement year and really helped me to get to know other members of the office that i otherwise wouldn't have socialised with. As well as this company golf tournaments were organised which were very enjoyable as well a number of golf days. In terms of whole company socials there has been a number where the whole office will attend, most noticeably the GONGS and the summer social