Intellectual Property Assistant Review

My placement was really enjoyable. ASM make a huge effort to make their placement students feel welcome and students make up a large part of the business. The activities outside of work really helped make a friendly atmosphere which I was happy to be a part of and the variety of work meant that the placement was never boring.

Everyone in ASM is always willing to help and there is no feeling that you are just a placement student. You are treated like any other employee in the company and receive many of the same 'perks'. I felt very valued by my colleagues and have made some great friends who I will miss.

Everybody in the company was willing to help if I ever asked for help. There are occasions where sometimes people are busy and you will have to wait for their guidance but they will always help you as soon as possible. I never felt like a question was too stupid to ask and always received support.

The amount of work each day was very varied due to the amount of emails that came in, how many meetings I had to attend, etc. I always found there was something to do even if it seemed to be a quiet day. On the other hand, some days were very busy and there just wasn't enough time in the day!

The amount of responsibility I was given varied from task to task. Although there were some situations where I couldn't take full responsibility for the task due to the nature of the work, there were also situations where I was left to deal with the task completely unsupervised. There was a good balance.

The skills I have developed with ASM are invaluable. I have been able to see practical implications of the law in a workplace and apply my knowledge to engineering situations. My confidence and public speaking skills have hugely improved due to regular contact with a variety of people in the business and my attendance at regular careers fairs on behalf of ASM.

In the office, there would be quiet spells when people were working. However, I was never made to feel uncomfortable for having a chat with a colleague over a coffee. The atmosphere perks up when there is a birthday and somebody brings in cake! Generally, everybody was cheerful, welcoming and happy to chat.

Although there is room for improvement in the organization of the work placement, the overall feeling of the placement was sufficiently organized. There is an opportunity for a 1-month overlap with the previous placement student which helps with training and feeling settled in the firm. The main area for improvement would be to receive more information surrounding the other business areas.

I don't think there would be many opportunities for training and development in my job role due to the admin-heavy nature of the role. Once I had received my initial training, the rest of my development was on a learning on-the-job basis. I did attend a couple of training workshops when new systems were being rolled out.

There always seems to be opportunities for placement students to return to ASM. I have extended my contract for a further 6 months and will continue to work with ASM part-time during my final year at uni. Many of the colleagues I have met were once placement students who have returned to ASM following graduation.

As ASM takes on a large number of students each year (in my year there was 15 of us), the atmosphere between the students is really great. Most of the students move down to Weymouth and so socialize with each other outside of work. I have made some really great friends!

I did not live in Weymouth during my time with ASM as I was able to stay living at home and travel to work each day. The cost of socializing in the area was reasonably well-priced considering it is a seaside town. There are cheap places to eat and shop as well as more pricey places.

Weymouth has a lot of pubs along the seafront and a number of small clubs. In the summer, the nightlife is very busy as people travel on the train to Weymouth for a day/night out. The nightlife dies down a bit in the winter but is still quite busy on Saturdays.

ASM provides many opportunities for their students to get involved. I have been a member of the Sports and Social Club and able to get involved with planning the summer party, Christmas party and smaller events such as lasertag, burger golf and cinema trips. There are many sports clubs to join including football, volleyball and badminton.