Nuclear Science and Engineering Industrial Placement Review

EDF is an interesting place to work with extremely varied roles meaning there is always something new to be learning every day. They really value every employee and you are treated with the respect that you deserve.

All colleagues valued me very much, even though I wasn't always the most useful person around. They were always willing to share their knowledge with me.

My supervisor was excellent. However, if it wasn't for him being self motivated to be the best he could be for me then I would have had no support as the scheme is very relient on each supervisor organising this aspect of the placement themselves (which during my year I have seen to not always be effective)

It varied. Some weeks I had colleagues in manic mode begging me for something even though I was swamped with numerous other things. And other times I may be very bored as the work wasn't really going anywhere. Most of the time it was a good level of busy.

The majority of the time I was not really given hat much responsibility but there are a few times where a project I have been working on required me to be more accountable for my work. Again, it varies on what department you end up in.

Not exactly relevant to my very practical science subject but the theory of some things I learner throughout the year I'm sure will come in very useful in years to come.

My team were fantastic. A good mix of people with a great sense of humour. But the office is huge and the general feeling around the whole place is very dull and overly serious.

Terribly. Organisation of my placement was dire. HR and future careers had basically no idea what a scientific placement entails. Again, going back to my team, if it wasn't for them I'm sure I would have had the worst year. Filing paperwork and getting coffee.

Learning and training was actively encouraged and I was permitted to go on as many training courses as I wanted. This organisational learning culture was also encouraged in daily life.

The company seems to invest a lot of time in placement students and it is almost expected that they will take you back after graduation. As the company and naure of the work is so varied you can go most places and it is a really attractive organisation to want to work for!

Again, early careers and HR were unhelpful in loading with us and letting us know about general placement things, but once we all found each other in the end there is a really good atmosphere between placement students. There is however a big age gap between permanent staff and you as a student so the chance of having a good social relationship with other staff outside of work is unlikely.

Average cost if you live in Gloucester, expensive if you live in Cheltenham. But Gloucester is dangerous and run down so you will pay more to be in a nicer, safer area like Cheltenham unfortunately. I personally did not like Gloucester (most of it). I felt unsafe here the majority of the time.

I've seen much better but I've also seen much worse. Again the safety thing is very off putting if you are going out in Gloucester. It just doesn't have a great reputation.

Plenty! You just have to actively look for them.