Industrial Placement Student Review

My placement was very rewarding yet challenging. I enjoyed the work, meeting new people and getting paid! I did not enjoy the location if my placement, the town was small with very little to do outside the workplace. Overall I enjoyed my placement and would love to go back to work there.

Mostly colleagues saw the value in the students. I was asked to carry out tasks for other groups outside my main role which made me feel like I had some responsibility and was valued not only by my team but the whole department. Overall I felt like a valued team member not just a student.

I had a very enthusiastic and caring supervisor. She provided strong guidance throughout my placement when appropriate. With lots of help and support at the beginning and again at the end when I had university pressures as well as the placement job. Other management members offered advice and pastoral support.

The workload varied. Initially I had little to do, but once I had settled and received all my training the workload began to increase. However, I was not overwhelmed by the work and kept at nice busy pace throughout the week. At no point did I have nothing to do.

I did not have much responsibility in terms of deciding on the project, however, I was in charge of my own budget and spending. This was quite a responsibility to deal with ordering problems and making sure I budgeted correctly for the entire placement year. I never did have to train anyone else though, which I think would have been a nice responsibility to have.

I learned so many soft skills in addition to my technical skills! Being put on the spot to present in front of large groups of people really improved my public speaking. Additionally, I learned to work with different teams of people, an essential skill in the workplace. These skills have been crucial when moving from my placement to a job.

My office was quite quiet, and most people kept themselves to themselves during working hours. However, we did go for coffee breaks together and there was always lots of baking going on! The atmosphere could have been a bit more fun, however, it was a working environment so people tended to keep quiet.

The placement was very well organised. From the outset my travel was arranged for me for the interview. I was contacted in plenty of time with a contract, telling me when I was starting and finishing so I could easily arrange housing. The training programme was put in place so I could settle in easily.

The firm gave me a two week training programme when I started so that I could understand more about the business and develop my technical skills prior to me working on my project. Additionally, I went on multiple courses throughout the year all paid for by the company which has really aided my future career work.

I do not believe many placement students return back, however there are lots of vacancies that come up throughout the year with this company that I could apply for and would enjoy. The draw back to working full time with this company is the undesirable location makes me returning less likely.

There were lots of students at my placement, 12 in my department alone. We often would go out at the weekend together and would have lunch everyday. Not only this, as most placement students had moved, there was the opportunity to live with other placement students which meant meeting lots of new people.

The area was relatively cheap for the south east of England, however, the area was quite run down. Eating out was around average price, however, any trips into the centre of London made socialising very expensive with the train and paying for drinks in London. Mostly, the area was comfortably affordable.

The nightlife was poor. There was one club with a very bad reputation, that has since closed down. There were some pubs that were open until around 12pm however they were incredibly busy and overcrowded. The nightlife was typical of a small town, and seemed poor in comparison to a large city.

There were few activities available outside of the workplace. Likely as I was new to the area I did not know about all of things that are likely available. There was a local theatre that some people from the company seemed to be involved in some amateur dramatic plays and shows.