Sales Operations Analyst Review

CA provided an opportunity to learn, entrusted responsibilities and challenged me to develop. A great placement year to learn, add value to CA’s business and family! Good work life balance, great facilities and amazing colleagues. I look forward to my future prospects in the job market and will manage my expectation on the responsibility in my first graduate job. Sales Operations is a role I’ll look towards in the future.

I felt valued like any other CA employee and trusted with responsibilities. Demonstrating your capabilities over the course of the placement year will result in more trust and responsibilities from your colleagues. Everyone knew all of us placement students by name and valued our ideas in meetings. Consequently I felt valued at CA has set a high expectation for my future employers.

There’s a team of people who are always happy to give you support and guidance. It doesn’t necessarily have to be your direct manager, it can be your line manager, fellow placement students or even any of the other CA employees. I’ve received advise here at CA that I will use through my working life. At the start of the Sales Ops role we were in a buddy system so I always had someone in team that I can go to for help.

There were daily tasks and meeting that occurred on weekly, bi-weekly and monthly basis. Ad-hoc tasks and meetings fluctuated based on the point of the sales quarter. Majority of the placement I had a project/task with value to be working on top of the daily tasks. It’s important to be proactive and engage with the wider team, this will result in more involvement in varied projects.

I was gradually given more responsibility over the course of the placement, I could develop at my own pace. I was responsible for collating, analysing and reporting business metrics to aid the business effectiveness of CA. It varies depending person to person but if you demonstrate you’re capable, then your colleagues will be willing to put their trust in you.

Creating bespoke and automated reports on a set of criteria's continued my development to identify errors, omissions in data sets and cognitive ability. Reports and forecasting process's using Anaplan involved collating diverse data, analysing data and problem solving skills to present information in a constructive form. Improved organisational awareness. Learned a lot about the company’s structure, acquisitions, CA's competitors and market.

CA has a good inclusive environment in the office, everyone is approachable and willing to help. CA is encouraging of a diverse workplace; they may not be completely there now but there’s a real aim in the UK business for a diverse workplace. Everything you need is available on the premise. Gym, range of sports and picturesque grounds for walks.

The work placement at CA has grown each year as more business functions perceive the benefits of having a placement student working in their department. A well-structured process from the placement adverts, short listing of candidates and the assessment day. The work carried out is dependent on who you report too and a good support system in place.

The company entrusted me with different projects that contributed to the business effectiveness of the UKI Sales Organization. CA has many online training courses I was able to develop specific knowledge which I could apply to the business. PowerBi is something the industry has taken too and I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to carry out an online course for the business tool.

I would not hesitate at a future prospect at CA, I was provided an opportunity to learn, entrusted responsibilities and challenged to develop. CA is encouraging of a diverse workplace and in the future I expect a more diverse workforce, increasing the appeal of a future employment prospect with the organization. CA has a good inclusive environment in the office, everyone is approachable and willing to help. Good work life balance, great facilities and amazing colleagues.

There were plenty of opportunities to socialise with both placement students and colleagues at CA. Occasionally on weekends we did nights out, explore Windsor and other activities. And at work, there were times where we would have lunch, play pool and table tennis together. Having access to an onsite gym with different classes and a range of outdoor sports meant you could meet people both at CA and in the other companies that CA now share the office with. Social drinks and team activities were scattered across the year which help to build better working relationships with your other colleagues.

Cost of living is reasonable, being near London the cost of housing isn’t necessarily cheap. As mentioned before it is what you want it to be, the more you know the area the more you know what places to go. Placement is the first full time income for most, it’s easy not to budget but it is something useful to do to save some money for after placement.

Good links into Windsor, Reading and London make it a good location if you are after a good nightlife scene. As mentioned before, you make what you want out of it. Windsor is a very social place, picturesque and most convenient area from where CA is situated, with both nightclubs and bars to explore.

This is up to you what you make of it, being able to drive will improve the opportunities of activities outside of work. Charity events, like fun runs take place across the year. Volunteering days are provided to use to help the local area. Football takes place every week at a local pitch with current CA employees and employee’s that have moved jobs but still like to come back. Occasionally employees organise inter organisation matches.