Customer Success Manager Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my year-long work placement and it has been a truly invaluable experience. It has enabled me to develop new transferable skills, network with a variety of professionals and experience/work on real-world business projects. In addition to this, during my time on placement I have learnt huge-amounts and this has significantly helped me with my personal development and growth.

I have felt extremely valued by my colleagues during my time on placement and have received praise, appreciation and also feedback for the projects I have been working on, which has made me feel a part of the team and secure in my position. I have also built strong relationships with my team which has enabled me to connect with my colleagues on both a professional and personal level.

I have been given a huge amount of support by my manager and mentors during my work-placement which has enabled me to develop and grow and also take on board any feedback/things that I need to improve on in order to make the most out of my time during the placement.

As I am in a customer facing role, I usually spend a lot of time travelling back and forth to customer meetings and also on customer calls and therefore have been super busy everyday - this is something I am absolutely willing to do as I love my job! My colleagues also emphasise the importance of work/life balance and have therefore been very fair on workloads.

I have been given a high level of of responsibility during my work placement which is great as it has enabled me to drive business impact on real-life business projects and has allowed me to develop transferrable skills. My colleagues have also been very supportive and when I have been ready to take on more responsibility I have been absolutely able to do so!

The skills I have developed have been crucial alongside not only my university degree but also for my future career and I can honestly say I have developed critical life skills which will be great when completing my university degree and applying for graduate roles. Everything I have learnt during my university studies has now been put into a real-world business context and I am therefore extremely grateful to have had this opportunity.

Everyday in our main office the atmosphere has been fun, pleasant and vibrant as not only is the office a great open planned working space but also everybody is super friendly and approachable. I believe this atmosphere has been so important during my work placement as it has enabled me to feel comfortable and welcome.

The work placement is very well set up with formal onboarding, training and networking events and we have also had lots of help and guidance along the way from our early in career team who have provided us with training materials, insights and discovery sessions and also weekly check-in sessions.

The company invest huge-amounts of personal training and development materials such as learning pathways, specific training sessions and also classes for Certified exams (which are extremely valuable for your CV). Also my manager and mentor has invested a lot of time in me for working on my personal development plan, career stage profiling and also general learning.

I am very interested in future employment prospects and perhaps securing a graduate role with the organisation as I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with them. I have been able to develop crucial skills, I have learnt so much and have built so many strong relationships that I would therefore absolutely love to kickstart my career with the organisation.

As it is a large organisation we have a huge number of early in career (interns, apprentices and graduates) and there was a good social scene across the early in career. We also have a lead for intern socials who arranges a fun-filled social bi-weekly - including things such as nights out/parties, cinema get-togethers and eating out!

I was actually born in Reading (which is where the work placement is) so I already had some knowledge about the area but the cost of living and socialising is pretty affordable - not over priced but not too expensive either! Most of the interns who are new to the area have been able to save up money whilst paying rent and also enjoying going out!

The nightlife in the area is not bad - a few clubs, bars and pubs in the town centre and we always had a great night out with our fellow interns, apprentices and grads! The area is not as big as some other cities but with easy transport links to London, Oxford etc. we never fell short of a fun night out.

There are lots of local activities you can get involved in outside of work such as sports socials but the organisation also provides a lot of volunteering and fundraising opportunities which have been so much fun over the past year! You can also take part in a 101 Team outside of your day-to-day role and I am part of a Social Impact team which aims to inform and inspire young people.