UK Discovery Day Insight Day Review

I really enjoyed the insight day. I felt I learned a lot more about daily operations at BP and the type of roles that I could expect to be performing should I get a job at BP in the future. I also enjoyed meeting other like-minded individuals who were also attending the insight day

I felt really valued by BP, everyone I spoke to was really friendly and welcoming to me. BP also very kindly contributed significantly towards the costs of me attending the day which was really appreciated as otherwise, I would have likely been unable to attend the day. We were thanked for our attendance despite it being more of a help for us than for BP.

The Discovery Day leaders worked us through approaches towards applying to BP internship programmes in the future, such as interview techniques and methods of structuring answers. We were also given the opportunity to ask questions to recent people to have passed through BP's graduate scheme to understand their experiences of applying and the training they were given by BP.

The information I received will be really useful in applying to internships not only at BP but other companies, even those not in the Energy/ Oil and Gas industry as the interview techniques are skills that can be transferred across different sectors. The information about different job roles will also be useful in a basic level of understanding of the jobs that need to be performed in the Oil and Gas industry which will link directly with a module I'll take next year.

The day was very structured. We were told how the day would pan out when we arrived and we stuck to the schedule, which kept the day informative whilst also being varied enough to maintain the interest and engagement of the participants. Even whilst eating lunch the time wasn't wasted as we were given the opportunity to talk to people who have been working there for a long time.

There was a great group of people at the insight day, who were all friendly and we got on well as a group. The leaders of the insight day kept the activities moving at a good pace so we never got bored with one particular activity. It made me want to work at BP due to the general feeling of the work environment there.

The company taught us about good interview technique and taught us some of the basics in terms of different job roles in the oil and gas industry. I feel they did a pretty good job, especially bearing in mind the insight day was only a day, they packed a lot in.

I learnt about a wide range of different job roles available at the company and gained a greater understanding of what these job roles would entail. Having talked to some current employees I gained an idea of what some typical job progressions could be in the first few years, potentially doing a year on an oil platform in the north sea.

We were talked to about BP's core values of Safety, Courage, Excellence, Respect and One Team. Some employees to have recently passed through the graduate scheme talked about which of the core values best linked to their jobs. I gained a good idea of what the working culture would be like during networking sessions, how employees all generally work slightly longer days and get every other Friday off work.

The day was really useful in confirming that the energy/ oil and gas industries are something I would definitely find interesting enough to work in full time, It didn't, however, overwhelm me that this is definitely the industry for me and I should focus all my energy on this, I'm still interested in exploring potential careers in other industries as well at this stage.

I will be reimbursed travel and accommodation expenses up to a value of £150.

There were plenty of opportunities for meeting other employees in the company. We talked to a range of people in the company who had been there for a year or two to ten or fifteen years. all of whom seemed positive about the work they were doing. These opportunities were one of the best aspects of the day.

They were on the whole really good, however I would have liked to have slightly longer to talk to some employees as we were moved on to talk to new people just as the conversation was getting really interesting. I would have prefered to talk to fewer people in greater depth, but aside from thatI talked to people with a range of different job roles which was great!

I didn't learn of lots of activities actually run by BP outside of work, other than the Christmas party. I did, however, talk to some employees about the benefits of the location of the office in Aberdeen with respect to the lovely countryside that surrounds it. I would see this as a big draw.

I would highly recommend this insight to a friend. I really enjoyed the day as well as it being really useful in terms of future career help. BP's offer of reimbursing expenses helps make the insight day accessible to most people too which is even better. It gave an opportunity to ask the kind of questions that would otherwise be very hard to find answers to.