Sophie Fraser, of Ceteris (Scotland) Ltd, who was recently commended in the Apprentice Award at the Clacks Business Awards 2018 has further good news to celebrate. Sophie has recently completed her Modern Apprenticeship with Ceteris and all her hard work and dedication over the past year has been rewarded with a full-time job within the organisation’s property department as Trainee Property Administrator.
Sophie joined Ceteris in Autumn 2017 as Modern Apprenticeship Receptionist and, over the last year, has developed key skills, matured immensely and grown into the business to the point where she is no longer looked on as the Apprentice, but simply one of the team.
During her Modern Apprenticeship she was based primarily in reception at the Alloa Business Centre on Whins Road offering full reception services to everyone based there and at the neighbouring Hilton House office block.
Working full-time, she became the face of Ceteris, she has a knack for names and never forgets a face – a key skill when welcoming 40 tenant companies and the almost 400 staff who work for these businesses.
Ceteris takes customer service very seriously indeed and this was borne out in Sophie’s key responsibilities which were to provide a positive friendly image and atmosphere whilst delivering high quality reception services and meeting room accommodation.
Sophie successfully carried out many of day-to-day duties associated with an efficiently operating a business centre reception including dealing with tenant enquiries, providing admin support to tenants and visitors and operating a constantly ringing, modern and sophisticated telephone system containing hundreds of lines.
Ceteris views Education as a key part of staff development and Sophie’s Modern Apprenticeship role was no different. She shone brightly in this regard, completing and passing her SVQ Level 3 in Business and Administration in only three months when a 12 month passage to completion is closer to expectations.
Sophie has continually improved her work-based education by proactively attending training workshops to fill the gaps in her knowledge including First Aid, Defibrillator use and a Risk Assessment briefing.
Sophie became so highly trusted that she quickly moved on to Staff Training and Event Management. During the Summer of 2018, Ceteris had two Interns working across their various departments – Property, Reception, Maintenance and Business Gateway. Whilst at Reception, Sophie took the interns under her wings, become a mentor, showing them the ropes and describing her own positive destination career path. This led to one of the interns, after meeting Sophie, saying that she now had a better idea as to what she wanted to do in the future! For Sophie to become a role model at age 18 is something that everyone at Ceteris is extremely proud of.
In her new role as Trainee Property Administrator, Sophie will join Ceteris’ property team, well-known for providing high levels of customer service and flexible offerings. She will assist the department in dealing with enquiries, supporting new and existing tenant moves and in continuing to deliver and manage, good quality, sustainable, environmentally friendly buildings.
Angela Ogilvie, Operations Director at Ceteris is immensely proud of Sophie, her development and improvement over the last year and said, “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with, and guide Sophie through, this incredibly important time in her personal development. She has a fantastic work ethic and demonstrates an aptitude beyond her years. She has a unique enthusiasm for the role, is always smiling and helpful and it is gratifying to observe her skills, confidence and proficiency grow day by day.”
“The young lady that Sophie has become today is a supercharged, mature, self-assured version of the just out-of-school girl I met a year ago. I am thrilled that we have been able to offer her a full-time permanent position in our award-winning property team, it is very richly deserved.”
PICTURE: Sophie (left) pictured with Karen McGill of Ceteris at the Alloa Business Centre.