courtenay pearson

My responsibilities included serving customers, stock control and keeping the shop tidy. Working there was a notable way of keeping my customer service skills up to a high standard. My time there taught me how to adapt my conversational abilities to suit a very different clientele. Overall, it helped me to build on my excellent communication skills and continued to teach me about working effectively in a team whilst using my own initiative. Furthermore, I helped to steward large events for the university which often involved dealing with difficult or aggressive people. Due to this experience, I feel I am now very confident in coping with challenging environments and can diffuse situations by remaining calm, offering a solution and adapting my communication style. Managing the workload between my degree and part-time work were crucial to being successful in both fields. This commitment, enthusiasm and my outgoing nature will be transferred to a successful career in hospital pharmacy.

Boyes is a chain store throughout the North East of England. I was a sales assistant and customer service representative for the Haberdashery Department. My responsibilities included serving customers, stock control and cashing up the tills. My time at Boyes taught me invaluable skills with regards to customer service and using my initiative whilst working effectively as a team. Furthermore, it helped to develop my communication skills with people of all ages, backgrounds and cultures. Working and cashing up the till helped to establish my attention to detail and the busy environment developed my ability to prioritise work, which are both essential skills when operating in a demanding pharmacy environment. My reliability, commitment and hard-working nature made me an asset to the company and I fully enjoyed forging my customer focused skills.

Excellent Customer Service Award - 3 times in just 8 weeks. My roles within the pharmacy team included dispensing, date checking, labeling, ordering stock, phoning GP surgeries and serving on the pharmacy counter. Two summer placements and working within the team has developed my customer service skills greatly. As well as dispensary and shop floor work I completed CPD cycles, a health promotion project and gave presentations. As a result, I learnt a huge amount about medicines, SOPs, controlled drugs and pharmacy IT systems. One aspect I thoroughly enjoyed at Boots was building great relationships with the team and patients. This has given me invaluable experience which cannot be taught solely through University, such as proficient patient communication skills, decision making, professionalism and coping well with pressure.

Activities and Societies: - Woodham Community Theatre

Activities and Societies: - Aycliffe and Brancepeth Brass Band - Durham County Youth Big Band - Darlington Youth Brass Band - College Big Band