Business Management Summer Placement Review

You are assigned a team and a line manager based on which stream you are on and then allocated projects based on what that team works on. I was based in more of a marketing placement so I was looking at customer strategy and insights for British Gas. This involved training on different platforms, making presentations to internal stakeholders and organising work with external stakeholders.

Yes, as well as improving certain hard skills such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams and a large scale consumer research platform, I also developed my soft skills. These included presentation skills on a large and small scale basis, stakeholder engagement, both internal and external, as well as interpersonal skills and gaining industry knowledge. I also had talks with some external companies that we use to learn about how we use their products and giving me some more background on the team that I work in.

Yes, from day one I was given a project and asked to get on with it. I had instant contact with my line manager over teams so if I had any questions I could go straight to him but I was mainly given trust on how I thought I should complete.

I was always in contact with my line manager, the placements manager and my grad-scheme buddy who were all helpful and provided me three separate lines that I could go to if I had any questions about expenses/bookings, work or any 'silly' questions along the way.

Everyone that you speak to is happy to help and very approachable. From those on the grad scheme to the CEO, everyone is happy to give you some time to talk and point you in the right direction. The commitment to flexible working means that you can work from home or office as you wish (team dependant) which is great as you can make up your own mind on how you want to structure your work.

I really enjoyed my placement, the work projects that I was given felt like they were targeted to my skills which allowed me to show my abilities. The charity challenge was also a large part of my time at Centrica and I would really encourage anyone that gets the job to get stuck in and make the most of it as you may not get an opportunity to do something like that again.

Yes

When going through the first few stages, sit down and relax when filling out the applications. They can be (and almost certainly will be) nerve-racking so try to remain calm and focused on the task. If you get to the assessment centre, be your self! Don't try to be the loud one or the quiet one, make yourself heard but don't overpower people and make sure everyone is heard and gets their time to speak. Look up what is happening in the company at the time and dive into what Centrica and its businesses provide so you can speak confidently about what Centrica does.