Summer placement quantity surveyor Review

I enjoyed working on this placement over the summer. I feel it allowed me to gain valuable experience within the construction industry. It was also very good getting exposure on such a large project, something that will definitely strengthen my CV. Even though i've decided it probably wasn't for me, I still valued and enjoyed my time there.

I did feel valued by colleagues, as I felt a lot of them did things to try make me feel included in what was going on, as well as people from other disciplines offering me the opportunity see what it's like in different roles, which also made me feel valued.

I feel like i was given a good amount of support from supervisors. My mentor would give me work to do, show me how to do it, show me how she would do it and then let me try and do it, and if I need help, she was happy to.

I was fairly bored on some days. I think this was down to the placement being too short to take on tasks that would have taken longer than the 8 weeks to complete. This would then result in me finishing shorter tasks, and not doing much until I got another.

I feel like I was given quite a good amount of responsibility during my placement. Within the first couple of weeks I was already pricing documents, as well as sending out emails and letters to clients. I was also involved in pricing up a new package, which I feel was quite a bit of responsibility.

I think the skills i learnt there were skills I already had, however I managed to improve them, things such as writing better emails to clients, team working with other team members around the country who weren't in the same office and communication within the office with supervisors, managers and colleagues.

Due to our site offices being very large, due to the scale of the project, the offices felt quite busy and full. I think this was also because we had sub contractors on the same floor as us. The atmosphere in and around my desk was very good, as I enjoyed the people I was around.

I feel the placement was organised averagely. I think this because not everything was ready when I got there, for example, for the first few days I didn't have a desk space near the rest of the team, nor a laptop to work on. I just felt mine was a little less organised than some of the engineering placements.

I think the company invest in personal training quite well. I know that if I was there for longer i'd have been put through the correct training to get things such as my CSCS card, and if I wanted to I could get assistance in becoming chartered, so I feel they well invest in personal training.

I think if the placement I did felt like the career I definitely wanted, then future prospects would seem very appealing as it seems like a very supportive company, however as I feel the career was not for me, personally they are not fully appealing, however that's just down to personal opinion.

There wasn't really any social scene amongst other placement students. At the start and end of the programme we got to meet other placement students from around the country on different projects, which I feel was good, however when I was back on my project, there was only one other placement student, who I only met after 3 weeks, so there wasn't much of a social scene.

I lived with my girlfriends family whilst I was on placement, meaning the cost of living for me was much lower, however, even if I hadn't been living with them and there was more of a social scene, I don't feel that the cost of living would be that high.

I didn't work and live directly in Manchester, but I wasn't very far at all, and the nightlife in Manchester is very good, there's a range of different places to go to, varying in price and style, as well as different types of clubs, pubs, bars and restaurants, so I think there's something for everyone.

No, i don't feel that there was any opportunities for me to get involved in outside from work, however, I do know that from speaking to other people I worked with, that they arranged 5 a side and sunday league football teams, so I feel like if you wanted to, you could.