Undergraduate Technical Intern Review

I extremely enjoyed my year long placement working for Barratt London in the Technical Department.

I feel fortunate for the team I was asked to join at the introduction to my career in Construction. I had a mentor who guided me through the tasks that the company would expect I complete over the coming year. Not only did this focus my mind on the future tasks but it also made me feel responsible for particular goals which as a team we had to meet.

As a result of having a mentor and a manager I always had someone to ask for advice on the task I was involved in. My mentor was my first point of contact but if I needed further information I felt comfortable contacting my line manager.

Every day I was given different objectives to complete within a given time. Some task would take the 30 minutes other tasks could last 2 months. The variation in tasks meant I was exposed to different pressures which in turn made me better organised and more focused with the tasks in hand.

I was fortunate to be given small tasks at the beginning of my placement which allowed me to prove myself to my mentor. As a result of this trust between myself and my mentor I was allowed to work alongside him with the completion or his two blocks of apartments. I therefore had a lot of responsibility in my placement but especially in the final 8 months.

The skills I developed will greatly help with finishing my degree to the highest standard possible. In particular the skills I have learnt with respect to prioritising different tasks will help when organising my day at university.

The atmosphere was directed towards working hard and achieving goals. Due to very little of the younger generation being employed at Barratt London; the environment could be dull. However this worked in my favour as it allowed me to completely engross myself in the work that I was involved in. I was positioned on site which meant there were many new faces throughout the year due to some staff being employed contractually.

We frequently had organised trips to other cities throughout England to meet and greet the other interns for Barratt Homes. I was impressed with how well these activity days were organised and thoroughly enjoyed them. It also allowed the interns to understand how other regions work as throughout Barratt Homes there are large differences in jobs.

My mentor and line manager invested a huge amount of time and money into my development with the company. Both would continually offer help with any of the tasks I was carrying out and also help explain any details that I was struggling with.

I have now agreed with Barratt London to continue working with the Stratford division in a part time role whilst completing my degree.

There was very little socialising with my colleagues or fellow placement students. My site office only had one other employee who was under the age of 30 years old which meant socialising outside work was non existent. This meant the development days with the other interns was a huge amount of fun.

As a result of living in Central London the cost of living and socialising was expensive. I have been positioned in North Greenwich.

Again, as a result of living in London the nightlife was very good as there is such a variety.

No, within Barratt London there is very few opportunities to socialise/mingle with employees.