Placement Commerical Manager/Cost Consultant Review

This placement gave me a true insight into what it is like being a quantity surveyor in the construction industry. I was lucky enough to be able to work in both the construction side of the business as a commercial manager and the cost consultancy side of the business as a cost consultant, this gave me a true understanding of the different roles and helped me in deciding what career path I want as a QS.

At first like in all jobs you have to catch your feet and show your colleagues what you can do but after the initial phase I felt extremely valued by my collegues.

I had two managers on my project one who was the commercial director of the project and then a commercial manager on the project. Both were extremely helpful and supportive throughout my questions, they always made time for me even though they were extremely busy.

There was a healthy mix of tasks that I carried out on a day to day basis, at some points there wasn't much but the majority of the time I was kept busy. I was encouraged to ask for work if I didn't have any.

Once I found my feet on the placement a lot of my work has been used in vital aspects of the projects I have been involved in.

I was part of a scheduled training programme with the graduates, but we weren't allowed to go to some of them and some of the seminars were of no use to me, but as a whole the training programme set up by the HR team was extremely good. I have developed a huge range of skills through hands on work which will greatly assist me in my degree and future career

The general atmosphere was very good, with everyone being very welcome and friendly.

It was done quite well, we had an induction day where we met all of the placement students. As stated earlier I was very lucky to be able to work in both the contracting division and the cost consultancy division, this would normally not be possible as the placement scheme does not allow for it, luckily I managed to make connections through my line manager who was extremely helpful in getting me the opportunity to work in consultancy. I recommended that the opportunity to work in two divisions should be offered in the placement scheme.

The company provided training seminars where staff from different divisions would show what they do on a daily basis, but a lot of this seemed to be them selling their department to you. Some of it was very interesting and helpful in broadening my knowledge. A lot of my personal training and development was on the job more than in actual structured training, however looking at what the graduates do for the graduate shceme they have an extremely structured training programme.

At the end of the placement you have a sit down with your line manager who decides whether you will be offered a graduate job or not. It is totally up to the relationship you build with your line manager and if you do a sufficient job. There where around a 100 graduates on the graduate scheme during my time as a placement students, and looking at projections of the companies growth they are looking to increase the placement and graduate intake each year so the future employment prospects look very good

There wasn't as good a social scene with placement students as we were based all over England so it was logistically quite difficult. There was a good social scene with my collegues as I was based on site, so you get to know them quite well and go out for drinks to celebrate milestones and birthdays etc.

The cost of living and socialising was very expensive as I was based in central London.

As it was in central London there was a lot on offer.

Yes I was always receiving opportunities to carry out charity work. At Mace we get 2 "Mace Days" where you can go and volunteer for a day.