One day shadow Review

I enjoyed seeing what day to day life for an intern at BP was like. The experience was enjoyable as the intern I was shadowing attends the same university that I do and so we were able to chat. However the intern was almost frantically trying to find things to show me as it seemed he felt that watching him work wasn’t going to be a good experience for me.

The intern had no help in deciding what to do with me during the day and was setting up meetings with other interns as I was sitting there with him. There didn’t seem to be much preparation on his part, and so I felt as though I wasn’t valued as there was not much thought being given to my experience by the intern I was shadowing.

The intern I was shadowing gave me advice about how to apply for the internship he was currently doing (which I will apply for next year) which was very helpful. He also explained everything that I may have been unclear about in his work, so that I wasn’t feeling lost.

I don’t think I developed any skills in this one day experience, however I feel as though I am more prepared for an application for an internship at BP.

Very poorly structured. I felt as though the intern was not prepared for my shadow day, even though he’d been aware of it for at least 2 weeks. Only one meeting was prearranged and that was his weekly meeting with his boss. Everything else he was trying to sort out while I was there. He even ran out of things to show me and so just took me on a walk around the grounds, as well as just standing around the coffee machine.

The atmosphere of BP was very positive. Everyone seemed friendly and took time out of their day to talk to me when they could. The ‘lunch and learn’ event we attended was very interesting and I was impressed that events such as those were put on for interns at BP.

Since this was a one day event, the company didn’t invest any training or development into me as this was just for me to see what an internship at BP would be like, should I decide to apply for one myself. This is not a negative as I was not working for them during this time.

I was able to clearly see what an internship would be like, from not only the intern I was shadowing but also other interns whom my intern set up meetings with. One of which was in a different department so I was able to get a view of multiple internships.

The culture of the company was very friendly but hard working

After the shadow day it was clearer to me that I would like to apply for an internship with BP, particularly in geophysics. This wasn’t the stream the intern I was shadowing was in, but was of another intern. I found his work to sound very interesting and what I would like to do.

I sent in a reimbursement form for my fuel cost in order to drive to Sunbury which came to a total of about £8.80. However I was never given the money back. This was disappointing as I had to make the effort to travel there, somewhere with poor transport links.

Yes I was able to sit in a meeting with the intern I was shadowing and his boss, as well as meet 3 other interns and chat with them about what they do on a day to day basis as well. I was also able to sit in while my intern helped someone new to their job understand what he was being sent.

The lunch and learn event gave me a chance to talk to other interns, however this was not a social event per se. But after the event ended I was able to talk to them as there was still time left in lunch and no one had anything booked until later.

My intern mentioned in passing that there were events for all the current interns to meet, though he didn’t mention what type of events these were (formal or not).

I’d recommend it if they could shadow an intern in the stream they are interested in, however it seems to be randomly allocated and so choosing is not possible. But it is worth applying anyway just in case.