Sustainability Officer Review

It started slowly and I was stuck in the office quite a lot, sometimes on my own. But I was given an interesting project to complete and a reasonable amount of responsibility, so once it got going it was fairly enjoyable.

I was regularly told by my manager and team how useful it was to have me for a placement, to have someone able to complete the project I was given since they would normally simply not have enough time to set aside to complete the work was doing.

I was left to my own devices pretty much for my project during this placement, but that was reasonable considering what it was. However I had some support and guidance regarding my future with the company - i.e. future employment, etc.

At the start of my placement I had very little to do and had to look for my own activitis to occupy the time to an extent. For the bulk of my placement the workload was about right, but then at the end I was overloaded a little in order to finish my project before the end of my placement.

I was given total responsibility for the project I was given to do in my placement, so it felt very worthwhile, although there wasn't really far i could go wrong!

I didnt really learn any new skills, maybe just a small expansion on some existing ones, but I did also get some useful feedback on one or two points.

There were times when I was on my own and therefore it was very dull, but when others were in the office, there would be some chat and humour at points throughout the day, whilst also retaining a professional atmosphere as lots of important work was being completed.

Appalling organisation, having been given around 7 months after reciving all required forms, medical certificates, drug and alcohol test results, aspirations etc, I wasn't told where I would be placed until a couple of weeks before my start date, and my manager was aware of my placement with even less notice. Noone therefore had time or considered sorting me out a laptop to work on and so for the first few weeks I had to chase this myself. However, the general structure of a placement is good once you are started.

In this particular placement, there was no particular training and development per se, but I have had previous experience in the same company where I have been sent on courses for various aspects ofr qualifications, development, etc.

I have had an assessment centre with the company for a permanent job once I have finished my university degree - I have not formally heard back the result of this yet but I am relatively confident of being offered a full time job.

I know other placement students quite well and some of them had plenty of opportunity to socialise with others. There were one or two events organised during my placement for new starters which I attended, and these were quite good networking opportunities as well as being fun.

I commuted to where I was working, so for me the same as being at home normally! However, speaking to others, they said it was fairly average.

As above, I commuted from my usual home as I was fairly local, so for me it was good! Having spoken to others, they have said it is not quite as good as many other locations, but reasonable nonetheless.

There were a few networking activities organised which I attended, and if you were to pursue them yourself, you could get involved in a few charitable activities organised by different divisions of the company too.