Summer Student Review

It was a good insight into what the job entails, with varying work over the course of the six weeks. I got experience in office work and going out on site visits, so it was good. Though the office atmosphere was very pleasant, nobody really spoke to one another. It felt very dull. So overall, I have rated it a seven. Work was good, atmosphere was poor.

I only really got to know two people out of the whole office. Nobody else really made an effort to talk to me. The two that did I could easily converse with about work, the company and personal life. So I didn't feel as comfortable as I could have done. I did feel that I was expected to know more than I realistically could at this stage in my studies, therefore I felt a little bit "not up to the job" in the eyes of the line manager.

Two people helped me out a lot, giving me good advice and a better insight into the projects we were doing. I mainly worked with only one colleague who i wrote reports with and went out on site with, and they were really helpful in guiding me through what I needed to do. I felt comfortable asking for help if I was stuck. The other person I felt equally comfortable as they were willing to have long chats about the work and company, which gave me a better understanding of what I was doing and how the company operates, Though, other people I didn't feel I could easily ask them for help, purely because I felt they expected me to know more than I actually did.

I was busy pretty much all day everyday. Some days they wouldn't have any work for me to do so I had to do "housekeeping" tasks, so in the respect of proper work it was almost all day everyday. Even though the atmosphere wasn't brilliant, I think that the work will help me with my next few years of university and when I go into employment. It has already given me a head start on my studies for next year, and some of the work has related to what I studied last year so it reinforced what I already knew. I think it has helped me to confirm that I am studying the correct degree and that this is the sort of job I would like to go into after university.

I wasn't given a huge amount of responsibility. I was mainly put into report writing for different projects and organising data and calculating different things, but it was never a huge responsibility which was understandable; this was my first experience in this kind of work and the work is very important. I wouldn't have felt comfortable having a lot of responsibility on my shoulders.

I think that the work will help me with my next few years of university and when I go into employment. It has already given me a head start on my studies for next year, and some of the work has related to what I studied last year so it reinforced what I already knew. I think it has helped me to confirm that I am studying the correct degree and that this is the sort of job I would like to go into after university. I was given a variety of different work which my degree encompasses and was an invaluable experience. I can now put into practice what i have learnt from this placement when i go back to university.

The general atmosphere was dull, right from the beginning I wasn't properly introduced to anyone, it was more of a "hello, nice to meet you" sort of thing. After being in the office for a while, i realised that nobody really talked to each other. It was usually silent and felt really awkward. Only two people made the effort to get to know me and when i tried to talk to others, the conversation was very brief it made some days feel like an eternity.

I think the placement was very well organised in getting me started and into the job, but once I got there, I was jumping around from project to project and it just didn't feel very structured. I often got confused in what i was doing because of the jumping about. Sometimes I felt that they hadn't planned anything for me because sometimes i would be given "housekeeping" tasks such as making a spreadsheet on what books we had in the office, Then I'd be put into a completely different task,

I don't think they invested in me hugely at the moment, and i believe that is because this was a short introductory placement that would set me up for my third year of university when i complete my minimum forty-four week placement at the headquarters. Though they did help and I got invited to a scholarship presentation day in which i can meet with fellow scholarship students to get a better insight into what they did on their placement.

They are very appealing at the moment. I have got a good insight to what the company does and how it operates. The only downside was the office atmosphere which most probably won't be the same everywhere so I can almost look beyond that. But the work was interesting and different, and it felt good to be a part of such incredible projects. Definitely want to work hard in order to impress in my placement year and hopefully get a job with the company afterwards.

I met one fellow placement student when i was there, he had already done four weeks with the company before i joined, but it was nice to chat to him before he left to ask how he had got on and if he enjoyed the job. He seemed to enjoy it very much. We went to the pub for food one friday afternoon in which i was able to talk to him more and he was really easy to get along with.

I lived at home with my family during this placement, so i commuted about fifty minutes into work everyday. So i didn't have to pay for anything except food and petrol. So on the whole it was pretty cheap for me. I also made packed lunches so i didn't buy any food when i was at the office location.

I didn't go out of an evening because i lived at home, i saw my friends there.

Atkins didn't offer any activities, probably because i was only there for a short amount of time, but i know that there a plenty of opportunities at the headquarters to get involved with lots of different things.