Facilities Management Undergraduate Review

From day one, all my colleagues and superiors were welcoming, helpful and eager to assist me in tasks and development. I enjoyed working with the majority of personnel, and the variety was good throughout the year. The only downside was that my job role didn't completely match what I study at university so I didn't get to utilise my academic knowledge as much as I would have liked, however this was my own decision and I have still benefited greatly from my time with NATS and feel more employable as a result.

The business support team for the supply chain and business services division of the business were great, never too busy to help and always available to talk to on a personal level as well, great assets to the company. All work I undertook was valued, as I completed some tasks that would not have been done otherwise and added value in the department.

I was given guidance throughout and encouraged to try and find a preferred job role within my department to focus on, in case there was an opportunity for post-graduate employment. Monthly 1 on 1 meetings with my line manager and quarterly meetings with the department manager gave me feedback on how well I was doing and areas I could improve, for my own development more than for the good of NATS. The altruistic nature of my superiors at NATS was on a different level to anything I've seen before.

There were certain times where I struggled to fing enough work, the nature of the industry means there are a lot of people to be consulted and informed when completing tasks and as these people also have a 'day job' sometimes my tasks would have to be put on hold, which I completely understood. My management team encouraged networking, which created more opportunities for me to undertake tasks with a number of staff, keeping me busy.

I was left to run my own projects for a lot of the time, these would sometimes last a couple of months. I would organise my own meetings and use my own spreadsheets and documents and generally be left to it, I believe I demonstrated my competence well enough early on to be given these responsibilities.

As i mentioned before, my Business Enterprise Development course concentrates on development of small and medium enterprises as well as strategy and market posititoning of companies. While my role at NATS didn't completely correlate with what I study, I certainly learnt a new way of thinking and developed my employability skills beyond my expectations. A lot of people are unaware of NATS, but they are a great company to work for with a focus on employee development.

Always a birthday to celebrate, an out of hours event and lively festive period. I played golf on a regular basis and as there were over 30 other placement students/post graduate employees there was a good atmosphere all the time. however, this was all made possibly by the professional attitude of staff.

Appraisals, Yearly objectives, meeting agendas and calendars were all set up for me. NATS own employee training website (NOODLE) allowed for completion of all health and safety training and other mandatory training. I also undertook various external courses in work hours for my own development, eg. presentation skills.

As above.

Although I'd like to be employed in a marketing and sales role which NATS don't offer, one day when I'm experienced in Strategic Management and/or Marketing I would like to return to the company.

Many nights out in local towns, Portsmouth and Southampton. A lot of the post graduate students house share and are always keen to get the placement students involved.