Volunteer Review

I very much enjoyed the insight course at Schlumberger, especially meeting many new different people who shared a similar passion for engineering and problem-solving. The icebreaker activities were great fun for breaking down barriers, all the staff were extremely friendly and the hotel (especially the food) was amazing! Overall, a great experience.

I felt very valued during my time at the company as we were given real-world problems to solve. This is unlike any other placement I had been on as we were exposed to difficult engineering tasks that employees of the company had already faced. This made me realise that they genuinely valued our input and opinions on these problems and wanted to see whether we were able to find the right solution. Everyone was very polite and able to answer any question I had on other internships or aspects of the company.

I received a lot of guidance/support during the insight course, there was never a dull moment where I didn't have anything to do! It was quite a full-on experience but definitely worth it, with lots of activities to do and always help available if you're willing to ask. Through the problem-solving exercises there was always someone available to help each group, and during the company tours there were lots of different engineers and company representatives to answer all questions.

The networking skills I acquired during this insight course and the people I met were definitely one of the highlights, as it was so fantastic to meet girls with similar interests to my own. This course will definitely help beyond my degree studies as I had never considered applying to work for Schlumberger before but the atmosphere of the company has made me definitely want to apply for a summer internship there. The problem-solving skills gained are invaluable, and will help me within my degree and far beyond.

The insight was very busy, which I found really enjoyable - there was never a moment when I didn't have anything to do. It was well structured in the introduction to Schlumberger at the beginning to prepare us for the more specialised talks later on, though a more extensive general introduction would have been preferable just to get us all to grips with the basics of what types of engineering work is done at Schlumberger. Overall, it was very well structured, leading us from absolutely no knowledge of drilling to able to tackle a problem by ourselves with confidence.

The general atmosphere was the best part of the insight course - everyone who works at Schlumberger seems to really enjoy working there, especially how easy it is to move around within the company and try new things. Everyone, the company members and other insight goers were really friendly and helpful, there were plenty of opportunities for us all to bond and get to know each other.

The company invested a lot in training us to get to a standard where we could confidently tackle tasks in small groups and there was definitely a feeling that they would like to have us all as potential recruits. In terms of personal development, the level of networking and adult discussion with company members was great, especially getting to know everyone that worked there.

I never really understood exactly what an engineer does at Schlumberger on a day-to-day basis. Although I realise it is difficult to explain everything as it will be constantly changing, I would have liked more of an overview of what a field engineer does in a typical day, and on the types of work that is done outside of the tech centre.

The company culture seemed incredibly positive, more so than any other company I have worked in. There were many different opportunities for each and every person within the company to feel valued and as though they were part of a team, especially outside office hours. The insight definitely helped me understand what it would be like to work at Schlumberger.

It made me consider certain options that I had never thought of before. Before this insight course I had been fairly set on my future career path, but now I would like to consider working abroad, possibly in the field, but it has also made me realise that working in the tech centre is definitely not what I would enjoy doing.

I was reimbursed all expenses upon providing relevant receipts.

There were many opportunities for networking during the course and for meeting other employees as we were introduced to those who worked specifically in the fields that we were mainly interested in. There were talks from a range of different staff members in a range of different jobs to give us an overview of the different options in working at Schlumberger.

The social events were great for getting to know one another, especially the icebreaker activities and meals out at restaurants. It might have been nice to have some other event on an evening instead of a long meal just to get to know one another a little more, although it was a fairly hectic schedule anyway so this might not be feasible.

We were introduced to a lot of different people who said that activities that Schlumberger employees are part of together outside of work was one of the best parts of working there. There were so many different opportunities, even on offshore rigs, for company members to come together and do fun non-work related activities.

I would definitely recommend this insight to anyone considering any form of engineering, even if, like me, they had never actually heard of Schlumberger before applying. It was a great experience, I met a lot of fantastic new people and learned a lot about the company. Overall, it was a fantastic couple of days.