Power Academy Scholar Review

I have greatly enjoyed my placement with National Grid, as they have provided me with very engaging and challenging work that has been in line with, and supported my university degree. I have been supported by a great HR team, and a great line manager, with frequent performance check-ups and reviews to track my progress and support my placement.

I feel greatly valued by my colleagues, as I am respected as a team member, and am treated as any other employee, both in the office and in meetings. I feel that I am respected by my colleagues, but my colleagues have still understood and respected that I may not have the same level of education as them, as I have not yet completed my degree.

I have been very well supported by my manager and placement supervisor. My manager has provided me with challenging and engaging work that is also in line with the topics that I am studying in my university degree course. There are frequent placement reviews to support my progress, and highlight any issues.

I have been given an adequate amount of work, and when needed I have been supplied with more. I have been kept busy with a good variety of work, and have been given exciting opportunists to take part in off site visits to other National Grid assets, to provide out of office context to my work.

I was given a very comfortable level of responsibility, as I feel that the work I was doing was not only important to my team, and in line with the topics studied in my university course, but had a very real impact on the wider department that I was working in.

I feel that the skills, training and responsibilities I have gained will support my studies in my further degree, as they are relevant to the course I am studying. In addition, the skills I have gained, for example communication, team working and problem solving skills, will be invaluable in future placements and workplaces.

The general atmosphere in my office was very good

The placement was very well organised, and a great deal of effort was put in, both by my placement manager and line manager to ensure that I had an engaging, challenging and relevant work placement that will go on to support my further degree and possible job opportunities once I graduate

The company has greatly invested in my professional development, as they have provided training, site visits and the opportunity to attend seminars. The training was not only provided at the start of the placement, but through. There have also been opportunities to visit National Grid assets, to help provide some useful context to my placement

There are very appealing future prospects with the organisation, as the placement can feed onto the graduate scheme with National Grid, which allows for many great opportunities for employment post graduation. In addition, once several placements have been completed, the student will have a very valuable set of skills and knowledge.

There were a few other work placement students, however as the placement is split between two offices, then the social scene can be somewhat split between the two locations. However, there is a good social scene between fellow work placement students, as there are many placement students across the company.

The area I lived in was quite expensive to live in, as rent was upwards of £600pcm, and there is a high cost of going out, as the bars and restaurants can be quite expensive. Travel can be expensive also, as the trains are very pricey, unless you have a railcard, which can help.

There is a variety of bars and clubs

There are opportunities to be involved outside of work, however they can sometimes be poorly advertised.