Last week I was lucky enough to spend the day shadowing some of the most senior employees of O2 UK. Here is my review of the day!
Starting on the 06:56 train to Clapham junction, I began my day heading to the O2 offices of Slough with much excitement, anticipation, and a slight lack of sleep. A 20 minute delay at Three Bridges station, a half hour wait at Clapham, and a maniac of a taxi driver later, I finally made it to Bath Road. After signing in and waiting in the grand foyer, I was greeted by Louise, who straight away greeted me with a smile and off we set to start the day!
I was taken through to the Sales and Services department in the newer part of the building. Assigned a schedule for the day and introduced to some more friendly faces, I was then taken to an interview of a potential new client with Louise. It was extremely interesting trying to keep up with the questions fired and the responses given, all of which were very strong and sometimes complex for a person without an extensive business terminology knowledge. All of which was explained to me by Louise however, and I was made to feel totally at ease when asking questions and if I was unsure on anything.
Following this, we quickly hurried off for a casual coffee and a sit down with Head of Customer Services, Mark Gait. Immediately, I felt Mark took a sincere and genuine interest in me and what I had to say, which I attempted to portray back to him. Asking questions regarding their social media techniques and views to how the customer can associate with their brand, which I was given in depth and honest responses to. I then was given the chance to sit in on a board meeting lead by Director of Sales and Services, Felim Mackle. This was an experience like no other before, as I was taken back by Felim’s unique, entertaining and ‘grounded’ managerial techniques. For instance, before speaking in the meeting, one must declare their name and position, and then their favourite chocolate bar. This was an enthusiastic and honest speech session from Felim himself, which taught 25 or so of us his ways of management and his business career so far.
Following this, I was taken for lunch by Louise at the in-house café, and then was taken to resources to have a brief meeting regarding recruitment strategies, and how to improve my CV (which I was very lucky to receive such professional advice on!)
I was then again quickly whisked away to sit in on a meeting of staff reviewing, with Gareth Turpin and fellow members of staff. This gave me a real insight into the depths and efforts the company go to, in order to know their staff inside and out, and how to use them and their talents to their absolute best abilities.
For my final activity of the day, I was then taken to ‘The Big Yak’, again hosted by Felim Mackle. This saw a group of roughly 35/40 of us become involved and actively engaged in an end-of-the-day discussion session, which lasted from 16:00-17:30. During this session, we discussed the purchasing of O2 by Three Network, which showed to be a clearly active and important issue on many employees mind. However, Felim and his team of directors and managers did an astonishing job at comforting and even making light of the issue, leaving no stone unturned and reassuring the teams.
My day then concluded at 17:30, which saw me rushing off to get a train, which, totally out of character for myself, I missed. I can only attempt to put into words how much I learned today, I am so grateful to GoThinkBig, O2 and especially Louise and Gareth, to enable me to shadow them for the day and I cannot wait to return next week, to shadow another member of staff and learn even more of the logistics of such a globally successful company.