Placement Student - Private Sector Project Management Consultancy Review

I really enjoyed the work placement, I gained invaluable experience in the industry, met a huge number of people and got involved with a lot of the socializing.

All of my colleagues made me feel welcome, I joined a team straightaway and was introduced to everybody.

I had a line manager who was there for any questions I had. I had regular catch up sessions to talk about progress and difficulties etc

The placement varied, towards the start the work I was doing was a little more relaxed but as the year went on my responsibilities increased and everyday became very busy.

I was lucky enough to be handed two projects to run on my own (with he support of other team members). It was a great level of responsibility and I really had to step up to the plate.

I learnt a huge amount about how the practice of project management consultancy is carried out in the industry and the different business challenges companies face. This experience will help me in my final year as I can relate to contractual, economic and project management principles from a first hand basis.

The atmosphere in the office was busy but friendly. Due to the nature of the clients and projects within the sector, most people were in and out of the office during the week. The office was often a chatty place and people were always happy to help with any questions I had.

The placement was organised very well from the get go. Following a thorough two day introduction into the company, we were given everything we would need to start working such as a phone, laptop, note pads, bags etc. My line manager had been been briefed on who I was and that I was on placement etc, which made settling in an easy process. We were also given a set calendar for our training sessions given to us at the beginning of the year. We could plan ahead to incorporate our training session into our working weeks ahead of time. We attended planned performance reviews and feedback sessions during the year.

The company invested in me through the training sessions during the year but also encouraged further development through internal and external lectures, E-learning modules and other course were available to all placement students. Full sponsorship towards chartership fee's was also provided, as was the cost of undertaking the CSCS card test (which is needed to work on a construction site).

Extremely appealing. The company is growing all the time and has a focus on investing in young people. The opportunities within the company which can could be open to you after finishing the graduate scheme are From a personal standpoint, having experienced the culture at the company and having an understanding of the kind of projects I could work on in the future makes it a company I would endeavor to work for.

The social scene within the company was great, I regularly socialised with different colleagues of differing seniority. The graduate scheme was a large group and naturally had an active social scene in its own right. The placement student group was quite a bit smaller but we still managed to meet up occasional to socialise and talk about the placement.

London is an eye-wateringly expensive place to live as I'm sure everybody knows and going out in central London can be difficult on a tight budget. I was lucky enough to be able to stay with family in London for the part of the duration of my placement, I would advise future placement students to heavily research where to live before moving to London to avoid spending their entire salary on rent!

Despite the frightening drink prices, central London has a lot to offer on a night as you would expect. There is quite literally something for everyone in London. When out with the graduate students we would usually manage to find some sort of happy hour deal to lessen the financial implications of a night out.

Mace has a wide range of sport teams which are open for anyone to join. Colleagues are also encouraged to take a day off and take part volunteering for the local community day using an allocated 'Mace Day'.