My name is Isabelle. I am a placement student from the University of Worcester, studying Business and Finance and it’s been 4 months, as of writing this, since I started my placement at JR Management Accountancy. I have already learnt so much here at JRMA, and I wanted to share my experience for anyone who wants to do a placement here, or anywhere else.
Before starting my placement, I didn’t know anything about accounting software packages like Xero and QuickBooks and found them too complex to understand. I didn’t understand why there was separate software packages, and not just one to keep it simple. Through training and repetition, I can successfully say I am confident with both of those software packages and understand it more clearly. I learnt that each software package doesn’t do the same thing, but work quite differently to each other, being more suitable for certain customers more than others.
Additionally, I’ve had to learn a lot about the background workings of a website to post blogs like these, and for them to appear on Google. I may not confidently say I am an expert, but I know a thing or too.
I am naturally an introvert with phone call anxiety and would much rather prefer to leave my personal phone to voicemail when someone calls and hide behind my desk. I always had to map out every possible scenario in a mental or written script, so I wouldn’t stutter. But I still did. Through repetition, it is slowly getting better, and I am getting more confident in it as well.
My favourite strategy now is to write what I need to get out of the phone call in plain dot points (brownie points for small talk), grab the phone and quickly press call as fast as possible without leaving time for me to dwindle on it. It may seem a little excessive, but it’s working for me!
At JRMA, we sometimes travel to customers and pick up documents or have them come to us in the office. Even in face-to-face situations, I realised I am not as good at speaking to new people as I thought I was. I really understand the true value of personal connection between businesses and customers, and I aim to be a little more confident in speaking by the end of this placement.
I have a better understanding of communication through social media, as it’s less confronting in some ways. I post content for both the Facebook and LinkedIn pages for JRMA, and it’s very fun so far. At first, it felt very scary and strange to post for the first time on behalf of the business. I’m getting used to it and started analysing the data of our social media accounts.
However, the scariest part about marketing is overthinking a post right before you release it. That’s it. Especially on LinkedIn, where it seems serious and professional. Developing my personal LinkedIn page was also a bit of a challenge, but it makes it easier to market and share the business page posts. The profile also displays my history in posting, overcoming these challenges and relevant experience, which I believe builds your personal branding.
The best thing about my placement at JRMA, is that all the skills I have learnt are transferrable to other business opportunities. Not only am I learning about the financial and business aspects, but also the marketing, web design and social aspects. I couldn’t have learnt this as well as I have, without the placement. I’m still learning, gaining more confidence and becoming less anxious than when I first started.
I’m looking forward to these next 8 months at JRMA. Stay tuned for an update.
If you liked what I had to say or have questions, maybe we both can develop our social media skills and connect on LinkedIn?: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelle-absalom/ or why not contact me here at JRMA.
