Power Academy Scholar Review

I enjoyed my work placement very much due to the wide variety of areas I was able to work in which was interesting throughout the 8 weeks I worked there.

I felt very valued by the other employees in the business. If ever I had queries to do with my work, I could ask someone sitting beside me or get advice on who to contact. I could then contact them via email or set up a personal meeting. Anytime this occurred the help I received was excellent and allowed me to continue on with my work. We also had good fun among each other, having casual small talk throughout the day and there was always something to laugh about!

In general all the managers were helpful with one or two going well above their duty to ensure I was able to leave the placement with much more knowledge than before and throughout the placement, were approachable and supportive.

After the first week of settling down where there wasn't much work, my placement became very busy meaning I had to manage my time well. There were some points where I felt pressed, but the pace kept the work interesting and I wouldn't have liked to be involved in less.

In terms of being given work that was important to the progress of the project I was working on, I feel I was given quite a lot of responsibility. I was also left to keep up with my work and trusted to complete it on time.

The specific placement I was on was less technical than others offered by National Grid, meaning in terms of improving academically, I have probably not developed that much. However, I have improved in presentation skills, management and business skills which will be very useful in my degree and later in life.

The atmosphere was very nice. I was working on a construction project so the office pace was very fast with people very busy, but still were very friendly.

Pretty much everything went without fault, from the technical arrangements of laptops to site visits and final presentations.

They invested in money to enable me to travel to many sites to improve my understanding of the business and they gave me a buddy to support me, however, as I was not in the main offices, I might not have had access to some of the opportunities other placement students had.

The people who work for the company are very nice and represent the company well. I would have to look into are areas of the business before deciding whether to work for them in the future.

I got along very well the the placement student working with me, and we did go out to drinks with some of our colleges. Also, once we'd met the other placement students about halfway through the project, some events were organised with them. There could have been more social events as there weren't many people around to socialise with naturally.

Because I was able to live at home, the cost wasn't that high, but socialising involved traveling up to Warwick which cost quite a bit.

There were good pubs and clubs around. So it was fun.

None, apart from meeting up for drinks once.