Carbon Management - Energy Review

As a member of the Carbon Management team in the Energy unit, I worked on a variety of projects including carbon assurance and carbon assessments, drafting greenhouse gas chapters of environmental impact assessments, undertaking research for internal training programmes or UK government-commissioned environmental projects. I spent a large chunk of my placement in secondment at (working for) the Environment Agency's national carbon team. This involved day-to-day work with almost exclusively EA staff or other consultants in secondment from different companies.

My secondment at the Environment Agency allowed me to develop my understanding of good business process inside an organisation that facilitate teamwork and being a clear communicator - especially when things don't go according to plan. Being involved in several projects at once has enabled me to practice time management, in particular being honest to myself and others about how long a task is likely to take - an important skill in consulting. I learnt about the challenges to carbon reduction in construction, intricacies of carbon accounting and carbon management, and industry trends for decarbonisation.

As part of my secondment with the Environment Agency, I was given a clear role with responsibilities and became the point of liaison between two separate teams to facilitate collaborative working. Being involved in project work with a support / admin role has not prevented me to also carry responsibilities relating to ensuring smooth project management. It was not uncommon for me alongside another new starter on the graduate scheme, to be given the task of drafting a report for seniors to review - which I felt was a good level of responsibility.

My team mates and colleagues were helpful and supportive with each task I carried out, whilst keeping a great level of trust that I could produce a good quality piece of work. The level of guidance I received depended on the project - as a secondee I was given much more autonomy, but this sometimes also meant less guidance, and this sometimes related more to the specifics of an immediate task rather than the big-picture context of my work.

Mott MacDonald culture is great - I was based in the Brighton office where there is a close-knit relationship and atmosphere across a range of grades, and there is no gap felt in interactions between juniors and seniors. The environment is very dynamic - they recruit a lot of graduates so there were plenty of people my age. Perhaps because it is employee-owned, but there is a good deal of transparency around the successes and improvements of the company on a quarterly basis or more frequently. My team in Carbon Management is made of really passionate, dynamic and interesting people and the tea break conversations I would have added a lot of value to my overall learning experience.

I really enjoyed my experience - it gave me a great feeling of impact and reward through the projects I was involved with, and it was a good level of complexity. I was surrounded by team members really supportive and driven. However, the length of time I was on a single secondment with a single client reduced my potential for learning - had I been assigned to more diverse projects, I would have learnt even more.

Yes

Thoroughly research the types of projects that a given unit or team typically works on. Whilst you will never know in advance what projects you are assigned to, sometimes the tasks they involve are quite similar. Reach out to people based in the office you are considering applying to (e.g. on LinkedIn) so you can learn more about the office culture, social events, demographics, etc. If you can, ask someone from the team you are applying to what the pipeline of work usually looks like over the course of the year - they tend to vary seasonally. When teams are low on project work, this means you will likely have less work to do (which is stressful because you will have to justify every hour spent doing nothing!). When a lot of project work comes in, you will likely have to learn to manage your time very efficiently to deliver on all your tasks. It is really good to be aware of that before joining.