Rural Surveying - Insight Student Review

Office was welcoming, especially the staff I were working with directly. I felt I was given a good general overview of the work carried out by the team, including time spend on site visits outside of the office. It was always relaxed and I didn't feel I was doing work I was uncomfortable with.

I felt accepted as part of the small team I was working with and got on with them well. I was pleased to be trusted with work that was genuine, current and of importance to the company. Obviously its hard to built a relationship with the office outside of me team but everyone I met was always happy to help.

My mentor and the other members of the team who I worked with were very happy to give me genuine work to do and made sure this was varied to give a spread over different responsibilities. Support was always there when I needed it but I was also trusted to get on with completing tasks my myself.

Not related to my degree so little of the skills will assist that directly. However transferable skills and the knowledge gained about the industry were very useful and will definitely help me going forward.

The structure generally followed the work load of my mentor. The plan for the week was vague initially but my day was always structured in the morning so I knew what to expect.

Everyone was busy all the time and there was lots going on. However everyone was relaxed happy to help and advise throughout.

My mentor was always happy to spend time talking through processes that I wasn't knowledgeable about and took time out of his schedule to do so, no doubt adding to his own pressures.

I felt I gained an honest view of what it would be like to have a role in the office I was in. Especially valuable seeing as I was coming from a non-cognate degree with very little knowledge of the property/rural surveying profession.

Hard to tell how this varied office to office however I did get a good feeling of the overall company culture and that of the office i was in.

Will definitely be useful to use in my decision making. Because I felt I was given an honest and good all-round view of the company i definitely feel it was worthwhile in terms of making an educated decision on my future career.

Expenses for both travel and lunch costs were covered. Lunch was also provided on a couple of occasions for meet and greet sessions and when socialising within the office. The maximum expenses were limited to £100 so if travelling from a far and/or needing accommodation they might not have been sufficient.

Yes, both on a formal organised as part of the insight basis and on a casual out of work basis. After work drinks were organised with people whom it was thought useful for me to speak to and the team also invited me casually for a meal out.

Good opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds working in different departments. Was also shown another office and met some of the people there who were also on a different insight scheme as I was the only one in my office.

Yes, a cycle event was being organised whilst I was there and it seems that over summer there are other events organised such as cricket matches. Unsure if anything more regular goes on throughout the year however.

Yes, especially if it was an industry that they didn't know a great deal about like I did. If it was something that a friend was already seriously considering as a career then I would however doing a longer scheme such as a summer placement as there is only a limited amount that can be covered in a week.