Student perspective

Tutorials For help and advice please attend a drop-in session held in gateway on the ground floor of the Roland Levinsky Building (see ref 33 on the campus map) every Wednesday during term-time between 1pm and 4pm.

Telephone Please call +44 (0)1752 587900

All respondents were interviewed by Iola Thomas, 20 August 2010

Lizzy Parsons - Student volunteer for clearing action line

Lizzy volunteered for the University during year two of her BSc (Hons) in Occupational Therapy.

What made you want to get involved in this activity?
I had worked at previous open days and enjoyed the camaraderie of the student and staff team so when I heard about the action line positions I jumped at the chance. I was also keen to gain further skills and something like the clearing action line was a whole new experience for me.

What tasks did you do?
We were trained on how to use the student database Unit-E, how to work the telephone systems and how to handle phone calls professionally and efficiently. We are the first point of call for students contacting the university, and potentially at a time which can be very stressful, this is quite a responsibility but the training we have received ensures we are able to do the best job possible and help as much as we can.

What did you learn?
The importance of being an ambassador for the university over the phone and how crucial it is to give a good first impression; this will relate to any field of work or business. I have also learnt new skills that I can carry forward into the future with other volunteer opportunities, work or in my career.

Will you use your new skills in the future?
The new skills I have gained will no doubt be an asset to me in the future, this experience has been invaluable.

Jonathan Brennan
- Volunteering around 120 hours at the National Marine Aquarium

Jonathan has just completed his BSc (Hons) Environmental Science course at Plymouth.

What made you want to get involved in this activity?
My passion for marine conservation and the desire to want to improve my communication ability.

What tasks did you do?
I educated visitors about the marine environment, through tours and talks on the exhibits. I did educational talks on the shark tank and did guided tours for children's birthday groups. The role ensured that I adapted quickly to different age ranges and was able to answer any questions from guests.

What did you learn?
Besides learning more about the marine environment I learnt how to better communicate with a broad range of people, especially young children, whilst hopefully entertaining the whole family.

Will you use your new skills in the future?
Definitely! I mentioned how my communication and confidence was improved by my experience at the aquarium. Hannah Gow, the lead host at the aquarium, described my passion as "infectious" and described me as a "brilliant communicator".

Claire Summers
- Student volunteer for clearing action line

Claire volunteered for the University's Confirmation and Clearing action line whilst in the third year of her BA (Hons) Dance Theatre degree at the University of Plymouth.

What made you want to get involved in this activity?
I have been working as a student ambassador for a year now and I have gained a wealth of knowledge about how a University works behind the scenes so to speak. I wanted to volunteer for clearing as I thought it would be really good work experience as it was something totally new to me.

What tasks did you do?
I participated in training on how to take inquiries from prospective students who wanted to either confirm their place at Plymouth or enter the clearing system. I was also trained on the computer and phone systems I would need to use as part of my job and then we were able to spend some time practising on each other to make sure we were confident with all of the information that we had been given.

What did you learn?
As a mature student I came into university in a slightly different route to most students coming straight from sixth form or college, by working confirmation and clearing it has helped me to fully understand the process of clearing from both a student and establishment point of view . The training we received for the job was also excellent as we were taught skills in customer care and how to speak to people on the phone which could be really useful for future jobs.

Will you use your new skills in the future?
Yes definitely. This training I have received will not only help me in my role of student ambassador but it will also help me with future jobs as I now understand the importance of how you communicate to people on the phone as well as how a university operates during this important period.

Amanda Owen
- Student volunteer for clearing action line

Amanda has just completed her final year of BSc (Hons) Physical Geography and Geology and tells us of her experience in supporting the University community by volunteering. She took calls from those who had just received their A Level results and were wishing to confirm their place at university or find a course through Clearing.

What made you want to get involved in this activity?
I had heard from friends who had previously worked the action line that the job was not only great fun but really rewarding as they were confirming places to students and helping others find places on courses that the University offers. I also wanted to do a job that wasn’t the typical student summer job such as retail or bar work.

What tasks did you do?
The tasks that are involved within this activity mainly involve telephone communication confirming students places on their chosen courses as well as helping perspective students find a place on a course at the University via clearing. Other tasks include answering queries to the best of my ability and if I am unable to directly answer the query, directing the student to the relevant department who will be able to help them.

What did you learn?
Through the training given for this activity I have been given many new skills such as being able to confidently interact with members of the public and dealing with important queries through the telephone, something which I have only had limited experience with previously. Other skills include being trained on how to use new programmes such as Unit-e and IPFX.

Will you use your new skills in the future?

Most definitely!

Cindy Burton
- Student ambassador and volunteer for Clearing and ViP

Currently in her second year of her BSc (Hons) in Environmental Biology, Cindy has added to her skills by being a student ambassador and volunteer.

What made you want to get involved in this activity?
I wanted the experience that working within the university would give me, such things as confidence and computer and presentation skills that would be very valued later on in my chosen profession.

What tasks did you do?
I took part in a two day training course, which increased my confidence in what was expected of me during this busy time. This involved taking telephone calls from prospective students who wished to either enter clearing or to confirm their place at university. The training gave me the skills to carry this out confidently and professional.

What did you learn?
I learnt excellent customer service and telephone skills and the ability to help the prospective student to get through this stressful period with confident and helpful advice. I learnt that I need to treat every call as if it's my first and treat calls in a friendly and helpful manner, providing reassurance.

Will you use your new skills in the future?
Yes definitely, the skills from this can be applied to any professional position whether it be directly in customer service or just by increasing the confidence that I can bring forward in any task. The ability to see all the hard work that it takes to put together all the promotional and customer service tasks within the university is invaluable as it makes you appreciate all that organisations do and to get a behind the scenes look at how it is all brought together for the final outcome. I am really pleased that I had the opportunity to be apart of this process.