Sales Operations Executive Review

The work assigned to me took me out of my comfort zone and always provided challenges that allowed me to quickly learn and develop new skills and broaden my business acumen. In a very dynamic team, work was required to be accurate and delivered in a timely manner which enhanced my attention to detail.

Colleagues created a working environment that was welcoming and pleasant to work in. Colleagues in my immediate team and across the wider business were always very friendly, supportive and willing to help. As I gained more knowledge and experience in my role, some colleagues would also look to me for help which was very empowering.

My managers were very helpful and supportive by outlining expectations early on and providing regular feedback on my progress within the role. Conversations with my managers were very constructive and supported me beyond the scope of the role, for example exploring future career aspirations and providing guidance and support to inform my future career plan.

My workload was very reasonable given the size of the business. If ever I felt my workload was too large or unmanageable, managers were on hand to provide support but my workload was generally manageable as I was able to organise and prioritise tasks at hand to ensure my workload was manageable.

From the beginning of my placement, I was given a very reasonable amount of responsibility which had real business implications. As I became more competent and commercially aware in my role, I was entrusted with more responsibility with larger monetary budgets, greater business implications and greater exposure around the business.

My role was not specifically related to my degree subject but the wider skills I developed through it such as reporting and analysis are invaluable with respect to my degree, particularly in my final year modules. The training provided will assist me beyond my degree as I was able to work on very transferable technical and interpersonal skills.

The office generally offered a pleasant environment to work in as people were very welcoming and mostly happy. The open plan structure of the office made the environment feel more welcoming. During busier times of the month, the office was a more serious environment but the atmosphere was still quite nice to work in.

From induction through to leaving the business, the placement was very well organised. A well structured handover was organised ahead of me joining the business which enabled me to quickly settle into my role. I was always very well informed about how and when we should expect performance to be appraised.

On the programme, there were some training opportunities offered to the cohort as a whole that allowed us to develop beyond our daily roles. There were also training opportunities offered widely beyond the business that we could choose to enrol on if we wanted, I enrolled on a number of helpful personal and professional development courses.

As there are a number of brands within the Group, and a wide range of training and development support resources available, there is potential to build a varied and fulfilling long term career within the business across a range of exciting brands and departments therefore future employment prospects are very appealing.

With a large group of undergraduates in the business, the social scence could be very good as there were always people to socialise with. There were sometimes challenges socialising with the whole group as people may have been travelling home - away from Milton Keynes but that was a given as we all lived away from home.

The cost of living and socialising was generally reasonable. Socialising costs varied depending on where you were going as there is a large variety of places to go/things to do.

There is one main club in Milton Keynes but there is a good range of bars in the area. London is not far by train so better nightlife is easily accessible.

I was aware of a number of activities we could get involved with outside of work but personally wasn’t very involved.