Project Engineer Review

Overall I had a fantastic time on my placement - the team and everyone I worked with made me feel very welcome and I was given plenty of opportunities to make a real contribution to the business.

I felt highly valued both by my peers and those whom I managed, but also by my managers. This was demonstrated by their continued trust in me to handle important projects, and by their willingness to help and support me when I was unsure of anything.

On the whole the support on my placement was very good, and my manager put a lot of focus on my personal development. However, there were occasions when I struggled with a lack of direction from management, particularly as I took on more responsibility.

I was always very busy at work, which I usually enjoyed as there was never a dull moment! I did occasionally work very long hours, particularly over a period of a couple of weeks, although I did receive overtime for some of the time.

As soon as I arrived I was given my own small project to handle. Once I began learning and demonstrating that I was fairly capable I was given much more responsibility, until I was managing the biggest capital project on the site whilst the main project engineer was on holiday for three weeks. As a part of this I managed a team of internal stakeholders as well as contractors, which gave me an incredibly steep learning curve but it was a fantastic opportunity and one I wouldn't expect to find anywhere else.

The skills I learnt on my placement, both soft skills and technical skills, I am sure will be very useful to me at university as well as in my career. I have just started another placement and I can already feel the difference that my time at Mars made in terms of being able to apply the things I learnt at university to real life situations.

The office was always buzzing with people as it was open plan, and people were very friendly even if they'd never me met before. There were some slight conflicts of interest occurring between departments though, which is why I haven't given a full score. I liked the fact that even the top managers didn't have a private office, as it made it really easy and less intimidating to go and have a chat with whoever I wanted to.

The onboarding process was very well organised, and involved visits to the other sites and presentations about the history of the business. My manager gave a good structure to the internship and we had regular review meetings about my development as well as those about my individual projects, giving me the opportunity to ask for any support if it was required.

There was a strong focus on personal development throughout the internship, but I got the feeling that this was the case for permanent employees as well. I had my own plan which gave me a focus on the skills that I needed to develop, and how best to achieve my these goals. In terms of formal training there was not much, but this was maybe because I was there for a short time. The onboarding process and introduction to the company itself was very good.

There seemed to be plenty of opportunities to progress within the organisation if I returned, particularly as Mars is such a big company operating in different markets and segments. At the end of the internship a panel was held for all interns to assess whether they should be eligible for fast-tracking to the final stage of the application process for the graduate scheme.

There was one other intern who was there over the summer as I was, which I really liked as it gave me someone who was on my level who I couldn't ask any stupid questions to! Although there was only one other intern, there were three graduates and quite a few other young people in the business as a whole so the social scene tended to be good.

Plymouth was quite a cheap area to live in and nights out tended to be really inexpensive, particularly if we were taken out by the business! The only problem you might find is accommodation for such a short period of time - it can be pretty expensive getting tied into a contract just for the summer but I guess this is the same anywhere.

There were very few activities that were organised by work itself to get involved in. However, there were many things that were organised by my colleagues for both evenings and weekends which meant my social life was always busy anyway. I felt very welcome and was encouraged to join any events/nights out that were organised so that I could meet new people.