Summer Placement Review

Personally, I thouroughly enjoyed the four week summer Placement at Arup. I discovered that despite there being a varied range of age groups there was plenty people f my age or similar who were in similar or more professional roles than me. This alowed me to easily become involved with the team.

At Arup, I felt extremely valued due to the nature of the tasks I was completing. Often I had deaadlines to meet therefore my line manager was counting on me to deliver the necessarry work asked in order to retain the high level reputation the firm has built with clients and partners.

I felt I had a good balance of guidance/support throughout my placement. This allowed me to learn the ropes of the business without feeling to pressured to perform as I gained the basic support I needed upon the first day. Futhermore the company also offered to give me more independance as time went on to allow me to develop my own personal skills to a greater extent.

During my placement I learned many skills. That said, the majority of skills learned are the sort I could transfer to any corporate environment. On the other hand the majority of skills that i can tranfer to my studies I already have but the experience has allowed me to dvelop these firther. For example, time management, excel spreadsheet capability and written work.

The experience had a basic framework which was good to work around as it kept me on track. I was set a number of tasks to complete over the four weeks to keep me busy. However I believe it wa the lack of structure which made my experience better as I had the opportunity to complete said tasks at my own pace and style allowing for me to work more effectively.

The general atmosphere was great in the office. I felt straight away as if i coud talk to anybody whether to socialise, ask questions or get help. That said there is still asense of authority to keep everyone on track. So although it is a friendly office it was also a focused office when neccessary.

Yes, during my experience I was given the opportunity to sit in meetings with clients and partners alowing for me to introduce myself and talk a little about their role in their industry. I was also invited to talks and conferences related to the line of work I was involved in giving more opportunities to meet people.

Yes there was a significant amount of social events which happened regularly. Futhermore I was offered to join a number of external sports teams such as 5 a-side football, quiz team and a fantasy football leage. All of which appeared to have a large group of regular participants. This was exceptionally interesting.

Yes, overall there was a great sense of developing my experiences and skils which I feel I will apply later in my career. Futhermore I found te office was very fun and interesting with many people from many career and life backgrounds. I would say I also learned alot from the people around me.