Insight Review

I thought the Insight Day was fun, varied and very informative. I learnt a lot about what Centrica does as a company, the different roles within it and its aims for the future regarding the oil and gas industry. I particularly enjoyed the talk at the start of the day regarding the 'Energy Dilemma' which is a current issue in the industry. It was also interesting to find out the backgrounds of the current graduates who work for the company.

I did not personally feel valued but I felt that Centrica value current undergraduates as a whole because these are the people who will be their future employees. Centrica made us feel welcome by giving us a welcome pack and encouraging us to answer questions for prizes which was very motivational. They also ensured we were able to travel back to the city centre at the end of the day.

A great deal of support was given regarding the application process - how to write a CV/cover letter, the kind of person Centrica is looking for and also the different undergraduate/graduate schemes that Centrica run. We were also given support by current graduate Centrica employees during a task where the Insight students worked in teams to achieve a goal. This made us feel more at ease with the company as a whole.

The information we received regarding the application process was incredibly helpful and gave us a true insight into how to write an application for a large business. This will help me this year when I apply to Summer Internships before my third year. This knowledge will also stay with me beyond my degree when I start applying to graduate schemes. I also developed team working skills on the Centrica Insight Day through our team task which will help me during my degree when I carry out partner-based lab work.

The Insight day was very well structured with regular breaks and also an office tour to break up the talks on current issues and application skills that we were having. A small lunch was provided and complimentary tea and coffee so we always felt refreshed and relaxed during the day. Starting the day with a talk on current issues really grabbed my attention and I was instantly interested in what the company does. Furthermore, finishing with a Q&A with current graduate employees was very inspirational - it made me feel as if I could work for Centrica one day.

The general atmosphere was excellent. The leader of the day, Sandy Chow, was enthusiastic and entertaining which meant the Insight Students were interested throughout the day. Having current graduate employees involved in the day also meant that the day did not feel too formal - we were able to ask people who had previously been in our position as students what it is really like to work for a big company such as Centrica. I felt lucky to have this opportunity and it meant that the general atmosphere was very friendly.

The company did not do any personal training or development with us apart from the team task that they set when we split into groups and had to work together to achieve a common goal. This goal was to build the tallest balloon tower and enabled us to use and improve our communication and team work skills. This will be helpful for future interview processes that involve a group stage as now I understand that it is not about being a leader but a good team member. Other than this we did not practice any other skills to aid our development.

The Insight day helped me understand what it would be like to have a full time role as they explained the different departments - upstream, midstream and downstream - that employees generally work in and which department deals with which people. This was very informative and also served to give a deeper insight into what the company does. It was also useful to ask graduates about their working hours and the facilities, such as a gym, that they have onsite at the headquarters to use. We were able to ask any questions we had which meant it was very easy to understand the roles in the company.

The Insight Day was great at helping us to understand the company culture. Sandy Chow, the leader was very informative about the type of person that Centrica hires - she put special emphasis on the type of person and not their skills/abilities/knowledge which I think forms the centre of Centrica's ethics. Speaking to current graduate employees also helped us to understand the company culture as we were able to ask them questions about their working hours and how easy it is to move around the company's different departments and move up the ranks.

The content of the day was extremely valuable and I can definitely see Centrica being part of my future career path because they informed us of the type of people that they usually hire and this appeals to me greatly. They were very informative about how the application process worked which made it seem like a realistic career path and not just a distant one I didn't know much about. Talking to the graduates who work there also helped give a realistic idea of where Centrica can take your career which was very interesting.

They reimbursed us for our travel expenses and expenses claims forms were provided on the day which made the process smooth and easy. These travel expenses included all forms of transport; bus, trains and cars. All we had to do was provide scanned copies of our receipts to an email address. The claim will take up to 6 weeks to be processed which is the only downside. This reimbursement made me feel very welcomed and enabled me to visit Centrica.

Yes we had several opportunities throughout the day. During our breaks we were able to talk to the current graduate employees about their journey through university and into the company and where they hope to go in the future. Also, there was Q&A session in the afternoon where we were able to ask any questions we liked - about the application process, about current issues and about moving up in the company. It was easy to build up contacts and relationships with the current employees.

The networking opportunities were relaxed and informal which put me more at ease and made me feel more able to ask any questions I wanted to. Unfortunately, they were a bit short but because there were several this made up for it and eventually across the day I was able to ask all the questions I wanted to. The social opportunities were also frequent - on the walking tour we could speak to current graduates and during the team talk we could talk to our fellow student peers.

We were informed about the gym onsite which employees can use throughout the day and after work whenever they like. However, apart from that we were not told what activities employees usually get involved in outside of work e.g. charitable activities or community projects. This disappointed me because I would like the chance to not only develop my skills through my career but also by doing extra activities with my fellow employees that help benefit others and my own abilities. Centrica probably do do these things however we were not told about them.

Yes I would recommend this insight to a friend because it was engaging, informative and relatively informal. The day was well structured with several breaks including lunch and also a walking tour. The day started by grabbing our attention with current issues in the industry and moved on to telling us about the company. There was a chance to talk to fellow students there and also the chance to network with current graduate employees and ask them any questions you wanted to ask. They also reimbursed you for your expenses to get to the Insight Day which I thought was very kind and welcoming.