Ahead of Wednesday’s (November 9) Job Fair, organised by the Bishop’s Stortford BID (Business Improvement District) in partnership with the Indie, in the Jackson Square Community Space from 2pm to 5.30pm, Jessica Papadopoulos discusses the opportunities to progress your career at Coopers of Stortford having joined the Bridge Street-based business in October 2019…
How did you get the role in the contact centre at Coopers?
I saw the job advertised online via Recruitability and I gave them a call as I was interested in the role. Two days later I had secured the role with Coopers.
How did you feel on your first day at Coopers?
Like for anyone else starting a new job, it was quite daunting. But I was excited to be starting in a new role and I quickly realised there was nothing at all to be worried about.
What was your day-to-day role when you worked in the contact centre?
When I started working in the contact centre I came in as an agency temp. My main duties were taking phone calls for most of the time, but then I was trained on data entry as well.
When Covid hit I was part of a small team who came in to handle the post. At this point I was running a data entry team and dealing with the post as well as helping with sorting catalogue mailings.
By the time we were out of Covid I had progressed to a supervisor role.
What do you love about working for Coopers and what did you enjoy about being part of the contact centre?
I really enjoyed the people who I worked with – the atmosphere was like a family.
I also enjoyed the working environment as the business is not so big that you can’t experience other areas of the business and it doesn’t feel too corporate.
This means that people can get variety and can improve their skill set. It is a good place to start your career.
What would you say is the toughest part of working in the contact centre and what was the most fun?
Sometimes you can get tougher customers than others, however it is never anything that you can’t complete.
I found the social aspect good and it can be very rewarding as the audience you are speaking to can be of the older generation.
What advice would you give a candidate about working with us?
I would say you have to trust the people you are working with, both the supervisors and other customer service advisors.
The training will prepare you for everything that can be thrown at you day to day and there is always someone to help.
Also, never panic or rush as you will learn things at your own pace and the training will set you up well.
I would say it is more about how well you learn things rather than how much you can learn in the shortest time possible.
How did you progress to the position you are in today at Coopers?
I feel I have progressed rapidly in my time at Coopers – soon I will have been here for three years.
I started as a temp then I became a permanent worker and after that I secured my supervisor role in the contact centre, which I was in for about a year.
After this I managed to progress to a role in the commercial team and, around Christmas last year, I was moved to another department temporarily. I ended up loving the job and moving over permanently to my current role as shipping manager.
What is great about working in Bishop’s Stortford?
It is a small town which has good transport links and good options of places to go.
It is nice because it is more affordable but still has the same options as bigger towns. It is a nice place to meet friends after work.
The Job Fair takes place in the Community Space in Jackson Square from 2pm to 5.30pm next Wednesday (Nov 9). It is free to attend and no need to book, just pop in any time. There will be a number of town centre businesses to talk to so take along your CV, and there will be a jobs board with more vacancies listed in one place.
