HSES Summer Placement Student Review

I quite enjoyed my placement. It provided an interesting insight and I enjoyed being in the office as I had engaging colleagues with a good sense of humour. However, I was sometimes lacking in things to do which was frustrating and did not provide the challenge or stimulation I had hoped for from the placement. It was till a useful experience however, with highlights including the training I was given and conducting some environmental impacts research.

I was introduced to those around me at the beginning of placement and many more people around the office during my first week. I was invited to meetings and dinner or drinks outside of work too which I really enjoyed. Several colleagues took time to sit down and discuss their work with me, which I appreciated, occasionally I wasn't able to get involved in work enough to feel that I had paid a valuable contribution but I was still trusted with tasks, more so as the placement progressed.

My manager was on leave at the beginning of my placement and so my other colleagues supported me, allowing me to shadow them and discussing what their specific tasks and responsibilities typically included. Unfortunately my main colleague left a few weeks in, which necessitated something of a change of plan for my placement. My manager was proactive in organising big trips or visits for me but quite hands off day to day. Another manager in my stream involved with the grad scheme did check in with me twice by email though I have not (as yet) received any reply or comments on my feedback.

There have been several days on which I was not very busy. As I am not working on an overarching project I have been helping out piecemeal with colleagues' tasks, shadowing which has not kept me as busy as I would have liked. I sought out work were possible though I was able to complete the few tasks this yielded within a matter of hours. Towards the end of my placement I was given larger tasks which kept me busy across multiple days.

I was given more responsibility towards the end of placement, once I had built up more knowledge and colleagues were more aware of the assistance I could offer. I had the enjoyable responsibility of writing up a report of a HAZID meeting in my first week. This was a genuine challenge as I do not have an engineering background and required a lot of learning to complete it to a sufficient standard for distribution. I was also trusted to scribe for a lessons learned meeting which I enjoyed the challenge of. Beyond this I had fewer responsibilities, mostly making smaller contributions to different projects.

An awareness of environmental legislation and permitting systems may be useful in my degree studies and will almost certainly be useful be useful in the future as I intend to work in a discipline with an environmental aspect. In the best possible way I hope to never need the sea survival, fire fighting and first aid skills I learnt during my offshore training, though it is reassuring to know I have had this training should there be an emergency,

The atmosphere in my office was quite relaxed, with few people wearing ties or jackets and a dress down Friday. The office was modern, light and airy with a nice canteen. The other office I visited was equally convivial, with a friendly atmosphere, everyone said hello which was lovely. It was different to any other office I've worked in because it was mixture between mostly office based staff and technical staff in their PPE with a lot of movement between the offices and processing sites. I was able to undertake several site visits which was fascinating and not your typical internship work.

As a general scheme Centrica's Sumer Placement Scheme is very well set up, providing thoughtful feedback at each stage of the application process, an induction day and a structured program of reviews and development days to be undertaken. My placement specifically varied in levels of organisation. My manager and other colleagues were helpful in organising visits for me to other offices, but I'm not sure they were fully prepared for someone of my skillset and competencies, as there were periods for which I wasn't given work and had some difficulty in finding work of my own accord. Good and flexible accommodation was provided and we received interesting weekly update emails.

The company made a significant financial investment to send me on an offshore training course and to visit another office and processing site. There were also opportunities to undertake presentation training, a development and teambuilding day as well as an induction. These events weren't always that easy to access as they were in an office far from where I was based but I was encouraged to fly there and could have had accommodation arranged for me very easily.

The graduate scheme is well structured and there is lots of information about it made available. You're assigned a buddy throughout the placement and they give you an excellent idea of what the scheme is like and what sort of work you might be doing. As the graduate scheme places you around different areas of the business this is useful because the work could be very different to that which you have undertaken on the placement. The work in my stream sounds interesting and I would certainly like to gain a job offer with the company.

My area was cheap to live in, accommodation in nice student flats was provided free of charge. Food prices were as elsewhere in the big shops and the plentiful corner shops were generally cheap too. Pubs were reasonably priced, with most work social events began in a Wetherspoons conveniently located opposite the office. Restaurants and bars were also reasonably priced with plenty of choice, as were the shops and cinemas.

There many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work, with a lively city, nice beaches and countryside nearby. I played for a local cricket team, went on wildlife walks and explored the countryside after work and at the weekend. Within work there were sports and yoga sessions, beach cleans, drinks, meals out and several charity events organised which were enjoyable and a good way of meeting colleagues.