Intern Review

The internship was not very academically challenging but provided some opportunity for scientific knwoledge to be used and increased which was enjoyable. A large amount of work involved compiling information by trawling through archives and then constructing and updating excel spreadsheets. This was a challenge but less technical and less enjoyable. There were group meetings, some of which I, as an intern, played a significant part in. These were the highlight of the internship and gave a good insight into what life would be like working for Shell. Overall I felt that I could have been challenged more but nonetheless the areas where I had to deliver were enjoyable.

My task involved interacting with people from a wide range of technical areas. All Shell staff and contractors were approachable and pleasant to deal with. On the occasions where I was tasked with providing information or organising meetings, people were polite and appreciative. I didn't feel like I was really treated any differently to more senior/experienced colleagues. When people attended a meeting I had organised they expected me to have all the information ready and thanked me for running it at the end, just as was commonplace to do for anyone else running a metting. Obviously there were some instances where I was treated differently but this was mostly just to go to extra lengths to explain a procedure or acronym, nothing major.

My supervisor was very helpful and was experienced in the discipline I was working in. To begin with I feel I wasn't pushed quite enough but this picked up and was given quite a lot of responsbility soon after. I was afforded a lot of freedom too, often having a weekly meeting with my supervisor to check on progress. However, I was always able to see my supervsior whenever I needed to check something. The mentor offered a different but equally useful role. They provided information on the bigegr picture of the work I was doing and also served as another port of call if I wasn't happy with something. Both were present in the mid-internship and final internship review meetinsg and gave feedback on my progress and approach.

For the early part of the placement I felt there was a slight lack of urgency in the work. Partly this was due to my supervsior being keen for me to settle in but it did lead to a few times when I was a bit bored. However, after the mid term assessment which Shell requires all its interns to do, the work picked up and I was fully occupied all of the time with an appropriate level of work. This then ramped up again in the run up to the final assessment presentation where I found I was being pushed to deliver work but was not overwhelmed.

All projects Shell give to their interns are the responsibility of the intern - ie: it is your job to get a result. You can of course make use of others like your supervisor but the bottom line is you need to deliver. The project that I was engaged on had not been explored by Shell before which was good since it meant that my findings were certainly of interest to my supervisor, manager and the wider team. It was my responsbiliy to organise key meetings with people from all the necessary discplines but help was available from my supervisor if needed. I was given the freedom to deisgn my own spreadsheets for organising and analysing data and was allowed to order sinecption work to be done on necessary equipemnt.

The experiences of the internship provided valuable opportunities to improve areas important in business such as being able communicate in a confident, professional manner with other people, inside and outside of Shell. Other skills such as organisation and being able to present to an audience were also developed and will certainly be useful for later life. I did increase my understanding and knowledge of some scientific concepts which will also be useful for further study at university. I found that data organisation and analysis is also something which you really develop working for Shell and this will also be useful for university and later life.

I operated on a hot-desk system so just sat where I could find a spot. This was not a problem since most people where interested to see a new face and hear about what I was doing . Equally they were very open about their work. The office environment was pleasant, well-lit and spacious with good facilities. People were relaxed and friendly with a comfortable dress code of shirt and smart trousers for men and then a casual approach on fridays.

The structure of having a mid-internship review and final internship review was good because it allowed you to receive more feedback on your approach and progress and kept you focused on your project objectives. It also led to a fairer system by which Shell assessed you. On third of the assessment was on your supervisor and mentors' reports from the reviews and general progress, one third on a final presentation and Q&A session with assessors and one third on an E-tray assignment. This thoroughly exmained all areas of your compentencies - organisation, communciation with others, dealing with information rapidly and effectively etc. I think the comunciation between the recruitment team and supervisor/mentor could have a bit better initially since the supervisor said it was slightly confusing as to how to grade me and what to evaluate me on but I think this was cleared up by the end of the placement.

My internship required little specialised training and Shell as a whole do not train interns to be able to go offshore unlike some other companies like Conneco-Phillips. This was not really important for me since the benefit of going offshore would have marginal. Shell put much mor effort into training programmes for graduates, sending them to the Netherlands for a 3 week course. I didn't recieve much trainig except for a introduction to the computer system and there wasn't really the opprotunity to do anything else.

They are quite high. There is the possibility to work abroad and the starting salary is genuinely competitive. The graduate network is good and many of the graduates I spoke to had found their start to work engaging. With depleted oil & gas reserves, the industry must keep advancing and Shell are keen to be leaders in all areas.

The interns were a good group from a wide range of univeristies - Strathclyde, Edinburgh and Heriot Watt from Scotland and Imperial, Cambridge, Bath and Oxford in England. Most lived in the same student accomodation which led to a good social scence. Most fridays we went out for drinks. We also played football at the Shell owned hotel called Woodbank and nearly evryone went to the Graduate network drinks events.

The accomodation in Aberdeen was probably about average for the UK. Most interns stayed in student housing together but a few lived in otehr accomodation whcih would save a couple of hundred pounds over a 10 week placement. The bars/clubs were certainly cheaper than London, probably in ine with the UK average. There are planty of smaller supermarkets around and food is not massively expensive. Shell give a generous subsidy for your lunch so you pretty much ahve a free lunch every day which certainly keeps costs down.

Aberdeen has a good selection of bars and clubs due to the two universities in the city. The Shell graduate network put on drinks at a bar once a month which was enjoyable. The city centre is quite compact so most bars/clubs are within walking distance of each other.

The Shell graduate network put on drinks as mentioned previously and also a few cinema trip and the like whilst I was there which was certainly a good feature. Shell have a free gym accessible by bus from Aberdeen's city centre at the Shell-owned hotel called Woodbank. Some of the interns played football and tennis on the outside courts at Woodbank as well. The graduate network also run football and tough rugby sessions throughout the year as well as events in the style of "Tough Mudder" and boat races (perhaps once a month) as part of the corporate decathlon.