Project Assistant Review

I have fully enjoyed my placement at Mace. The placement is well planned and Mace provide a good range of training and development sessions. Over the duration of my placement I have been involved in several projects, working with some of Mace’s key strategic clients and has allowed me to grow my professional network

Despite feeling nervous at the beginning of my placement, my colleagues quickly helped me feel at ease and supported me, they made me feel part of the team from day one. As I have moved between projects, I have had to integrate into different teams quickly, but the support from Mace and colleagues has made this easy

Although I do not regularly see my line manager while I am on project, we arranged frequent meetings throughout my placement to check on my progress and ensure the work I was doing was relevant and beneficial to both myself and the company. Between these meetings, I was assured that I could arrange a chat by phone at any time.

The workload has fluctuated over the duration of my placement. Some days, I would spend a whole day in meetings which would leave me with less time to complete work. I have developed my time management skills through the balancing of meetings and producing work. Most of the time the workload was manageable.

Being thrown into an active client environment from the offset has given me invaluable first-hand experience into construction and project management. Over the placement I have been accountable for delivering specific outcomes for clients, such as reports, presentations and progress trackers. I am supported by my colleagues to ensure I am happy with the responsibility I have been given.

I have developed my skills on placement through a mixture of training sessions and one the job learning. The Emerging Talent team hold 4 development sessions over the course of the year at the head office in London. Each session covered a different topic to aid our development, including professionalism, BIM and presentation skills.

As I have moved across projects, I have been in multiple offices over the 12 month of my placement. The Head Office is a buzzing corporate office in The City with a real sense of being part of a large firm. Client offices have ranged from modern, pleasant offices to portacabins on site. There is a good sense of team spirit in the site offices.

The onboarding process was well organised. On my first day I attended a welcome meeting at the head office in London with all Industrial and Summer Placement students, with talks given by the HR department and various directors from across Mace. The subsequent training and development sessions are well organised too.

Alongside the training and development sessions held by the Emerging Talent team, Mace invests in placement students by offering the same training they offer to full time employees. Over the 12 months on placement, I have undertaken the same mandatory training requirements as those required by full time employees. I have also gained a Project Management qualification which was provided by Mace.

I am due to have my End of Year review with my line manager in the coming weeks to assess my progress and development, and conclude whether I am to be offered a place on the Graduate Scheme. Initial discussions with my line manager have suggested that I am to be offered a place to return.

The training and development sessions offer the opportunity to meet with other placement students, which are good as most of the students are based in different locations. We regularly go for networking drinks after the sessions. In the regional offices there are social events every few months, and often colleagues go for drinks after work on Fridays.

As part of the Placement, students are encouraged to engage in charitable endeavors. The group I was part of chose to partake in a Tough Mudder challenge for Myeloma UK. This was a great opportunity to get together with the placement students outside of working hours having a fun day out for a good cause.