Power Academy Student Review

Lots of technology talks to pick up information on how the company works and details of what other members of staff deal with on a daily basis. Plenty of chances to get out of the office to see the equipment in person.

Everyone was willing to talk about their jobs and how they got to where they are in the company. Many were happy to have meetings that were not put in the calendar officially.

My line manager set up lots of introductory meetings in the first few weeks to let us know who the main people to talk to were. This helped build confidence. My manager had been on the same scheme when he was at university so made the effort to make it a good experience.

Some days were very busy and full of meetings with little time for other work however this was made up for by having the site visits and plenty of days to get on with the prohject without interuption.

I was given a project as part of a team that was work that other people could not do due to other commitments. Towards the end of the project as part of our suggestions we were able to put a proposal to one of the senior managers as to what should happen with one of our suggestions once we had comopleted our placement.

During the placement I had to meet with lots of new people, make lots of phonecalls and give several presentations. These skills have consequently improved over the 8 weeks of the placement and will come in useful in the future.

Everyone in the office was very amiable and willing to chat and up for a laugh. The atmosphere was also very relaxed with little pressure.

Information was given at a welcome day 2 months in advance of starting the placement where we were able to select a project on preference. Unfortunately due to developments in the company these projects were changed meaning that I only knew the name of the project two weeks before starting the placement. On the first day we had an induction where we were introduced to our line mangers and given the project brief. In the first week of the placement there were a few admin issues that were quickly resovled and did not affect the rest of the placement.

During the placement there was every opportunity to learn from experts in their fields. We were also given access to the main training materials database that is given to new starters.

Being a Power Academy scholar gives us direct entry to a graduate assessment centre in the future skipping two stages of application process. There is a target that 62% of scholars accept a job with the company after graduation. There also appears to be lots of opportunities to move around within the company once employed.

Fellow students organised several weekend activities. Lots of the site visits were done as a group with other students on placement. Lots of Power Academy students end up living together so lots of opportunity for socialising.

I lived with my grandparents and used a subsidised company bus to get into work which lowered the cost. However I didn't get to socialise as much with the others on my placement as it meant I was about an hours drive from the others.

The only nightlife was socialising at other students houses.

We had plenty of site visits. We were also given the chance to help out at a national fair aimed at inspiring younger generations to think about engineering and science as a possible career.