Technical Sales Engineer Review

Overall I did enjoy my year at Pall, I was treated the same as everyone else on the team and got along really well with my colleagues. The work did become a bit repetitive and less interesting as the year went on, but I was able to learn a lot about the industry and gained lots of experience. They were very supportive with encouraging us to work from home, and made sure we had enough support.

From day 1 I felt supported by the others in my team, and as I became more competent at my job, my experience and opinions were valued as much as everyone else. In my department there is always an intern as part of the team so I was able to fit in easily. I was always trusted to look after my own responsibilities, give advice on my areas of knowledge, and help train new starters.

My manager was good at helping out where necessary, there were always good opportunities to ask for help.

Most of the time the workload was fine, although due to the nature of the job it is impossible to completely control. Therefore, there were some occasions where I had very little to do, and others when I was swamped with work and urgent deadlines. Some parts of the job are repetitive though or quite irritating as the process seems inefficient, so some of these tasks were pretty boring to do. Generally, it was fine and I had enough interesting problems to solve to keep me happy.

During training I was watched pretty closely and told what to do, but as I gained experience and confidence I came up to the level of the rest of the team. From then on I had the same responsibilities as everyone else, and towards the end of the year was given extra, for more experience and to help out where the company hadn't yet filled a role. This definitely made the placement more interesting and enjoyable.

The technical skills I learned during the role are pretty niche, and honestly probably won't help out too much in uni. However, it was a very useful insight into the industry. I have also developed more transferable skills, like time management and better communication which will help out generally in uni and afterwards. Working for a year in a large company was also a very good insight into what a future career would look like.

I think the atmosphere in the office was very friendly and supportive, we would talk in breaks and have lunch together, organize drinks outside work etc. We all try and help each other out too, it feels very easy to ask for advice. It is sad working from home and not having the same interactions as before, although we do still communicate virtually. I will definitely miss the friends I have made at work this year!

It could be improved, and hopefully it will be soon if this years suggestions are taken on board. Individually in my department the placement was well set up with training and good support as it has been running for many years now, but it would have been nice to have more of a cohesive program with the rest of the interns working there. E.g. we all started at different times and didn't have many opportunities to interact throughout the year.

It is difficult to answer as COVID 19 definitely took a few months out where I was hoping to get a few training sessions in. For this though it wasn't offered up front or organised for me, I would have had to make my own arrangements and then get permission to attend such training sessions, which made it too complicated to do without knowing the system well. I think this could definitely be improved, hopefully it isn't because managers don't want to spend money on interns!

I think future employment prospects are pretty good, I know a quite lot of people on the graduate programs and within the company who started out on doing an undergrad placement first. Having done a placement it will definitely help my chances of going back if I want to return. As they invest a whole year of training in the placement students I think in general they are keen to attract them back after graduation.

I think all the interns got along really well, but we weren't officially introduced until about 3 months into the placement for me so that could definitely be improved.

I would say cost of living was pretty average, obviously it depends on what standard of living you are used to, but I could live comfortably in the area on my salary and have plenty left to go out e.t.c. Southsea is a bit more expensive, but it's worth it to live near the beach and shops. There's also a lot of housing in mind for students due to the uni which also helps out.

I'm not a huge nightclub person so I found it absolutely fine just going out occasionally to a few bars. Southsea does have a lot of nice pubs and interesting bars so keep that in mind.

There were opportunities to get involved with volunteering and the local community, as well as running groups at lunch, football team and dragon boat racing (sadly cancelled due to COVID). They also had a monthly photography competition, fundraising events and larger events for a summer fete and Christmas fair (with real life reindeer!). You could definitely choose to be involved in the organisation of such events if you feel up for it, or just attend them.