Interview with Zicam apprentice Josh Marsden

Can you tell me a little bit about your new role as Finance Administrator and your background?

My new role as finance administrator has me working alongside a finance director called Clare, with working on Zicam’s financial activities and holds me responsible for the accounts of the business. My background highly consists of a love for sporting activities while also dedicating a lot of my time towards mathematics and analytics. My sporting activities consist of things like football, cricket, rugby, swimming and athletics. I still play football to this day as I am part of the Stourbridge FC first team. When I first started to work as a lifeguard during the end of my school time, I used maths and analytics to carry out financial reports on my self to see how much money I had going in and out. I did this using excel spreadsheets and my bank statements.

What are your main responsibilities?

At the moment my main responsibilities are too process purchase invoices onto sage and the creditors spreadsheet. I also partake in filing where I input paper invoices onto file explorer so they’re much easier to access.

What does a typical day / week look like for you?

A typical day consists of me processing the invoices that Clare, the finance director of Zicam, sends to me. Once I’ve done this I then begin filing until more invoices get sent through to me. Throughout the week I occasionally take part in other activities such as replacing the water barrel, the shredder while also carrying out customer service enquiries when the administrators are busy.

You were previously looking at a career in a totally different sector – can you tell me a bit about what that was, and what led you to a change of direction?

Previously I was working towards having a career in sports science. This included learning about the body, how it functions in sport and various other areas to do with sporting performance. I decided to move away from this career choice and looked into doing accounts/finance because I have always had an interest in numbers and working with numbers to achieve an end goal. In secondary school my favourite subjects were mathematics and computer science which both indicate towards the accounting industry. I did my work experience in an accountancy practice in Dudley and enjoyed my time there and clearly understood the work I was doing. Therefore, this led to my decision of going into accounting.

What skills, abilities, and personal attributes do you think you have that have helped with your success?

The main skills, abilities and personal attributes I think I maintain are perseverance, confidence, good communicational skills, positive mental attitude, good customer service and I think I am a very good adviser with personal and various other things. Perseverance and having a positive mental attitude lead to me being able to shine and push through when things became tough and overcome problems very quickly. Having good communication and being a good adviser allows me to talk to others about mine and their problems so they can feel comfortable being around me. Good communication also leads to good customer service as I can talk to people about any queries they have or possibly any queries I have so I can resolve them. Lastly, having a positive mental attitude is one of the most important things when working as sometimes things may become hard to a point where you may not want to carry on. Having a positive mental attitude allows you too brush that aside and be grateful for what you have so you can always look towards the positive side of things instead of the negative.

What skills have you found vital to your job so far?

Three main skills I have found vital in my job so far are communication, key mathematical/quick thinking skills and concentration. Communication is key in any job environment as you need to have good interpersonal skills and understand everything that surrounds you. Having good communicational skills will help you understand this. Quick mathematical and thinking skills are also vital to my job as it allows me to overcome problems much quicker and it also stops me becoming confused when I am faced with problems to do with statistics. Concentration is extremely vital in my job as a lack of it can lead to errors. These errors can cause the company to face problems and consequences in loads of different ways. Little things such as typing the wrong number due to a lack of concentration can lead to the analytics of the company being wrong and then the company will make adjustments based off the errors that have been made.

How did you become interested in this field?

Once again, I became interested in this field due to my love for working with numbers. My work experience within this field also gave me a taster for what the job was like and made me even more interested.

What is your favourite part of your job, and your favourite thing about working for Zicam?

The favourite part of my job is being able to look at how well the company is doing statistically rather than just hearing it from someone else. My favourite thing about working for Zicam is the lovely and warm environment. I feel privileged to be able to walk into this workplace every day and be part of such a good team.

What makes the company special?

What makes the company so special is how good the people who work here treat others. They treat others with great care, and that even involves people who are not involved with the company like suppliers and customers.

How does this company differ from others you’ve worked for / your time at university / college?

Zicam is very different to anything I’ve done in the past as it has opened my eyes to what professionalism really is. They’ve helped me understand what is required to be professional and to work in a happy workplace full of loads of reasons to be positive about the future.

What is the culture like at Zicam?

The culture at Zicam is very traditional with everyone being happy and talkative. This atmosphere is given off as soon as you get to the front door and meet your first person.

Are there any current issues / trends / developments / innovations in the field that you are particularly interested in / excited about / concerned about? Whether that is the finance side of things, or the security side of things.

I am particularly excited and interested about how much I can develop within the Zicam company and what key role I can play within the company in the future.

Is there a quote that motivates you, or a person that inspires you?

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Zicam is a national company based in the Midlands. Zicam has specialised in state-of-the-art surveillance and detection security systems for the past 25 years. The company’s knowledge and experience mean it can offer the ultimate in protection for both commercial and industrial arenas.

The attention to detail is second to none which is why it have retained a long list of loyal clients throughout the UK & Ireland, including a host of blue-chip companies.