This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I enjoyed the placement very much, gained valuable experience of real Engineering work. Also gained an insight into the water industry and learnt a lot about the way it works. I was given very interesting and stimulating work.
I felt very valued, and that I was given worthwhile work that would be of benefit to the company. I didn't feel at all like they were having to 'make up' jobs for me to do. I also got to see the work I did presented to managers and sent to the next stage of the process.
The support system for me was very good, I always felt that there was someone I could ask questions to. No one ever had a problem with you asking for help. Manager regularly checked on how I was doing and whether I had enough/too much work.
Moderately. To begin with, I wasn't hugely busy as I was only being taught how to use new software, but once I had mastered this, I was much busier as I could do more. They gave me enough that I rarely had to go seeking for work.
A lot more than I thought, which inspired me to work harder. It was just about enough responsibility to not feel too stressed, but enough to be spurred on to produce work of a higher standard.
Great general life skills, as well as specific technology/theoretical skills. The skills I learnt, I feel will be extremely useful in my future career.
The Company
The office atmosphere was great. Even on the first day, I was invited to several team social events which made me feel very much part of the team. Everyone was so friendly, I never had a problem talking to anyone new as they were always very friendly and helpful. Overall, a really great office.
The interviews were good, I felt like I had already learnt something just from that! However, it took a long time for the details of the placement, such as contract, starting date, salary etc., to come though. This, I would say, was the only negative point of the placement. Once these details had come through, then the process ran very smoothly.
They took the time to teach me how to use ArcGIS, which I'm grateful for. I'm sure that will be useful in the future. Other than that, no other personal training was given.
Sports and Social Club
Subsidised/Company Gym
Company Parties/Events
Relatively appealing. Would be more if I wanted to go into the Water industry in the future. However, I don't, but I still would return for more summer work.
The Culture
All the placement students were introduced to each other very early on. We all bonded as we were the same age and in the same position. We would have lunch and breaks together.
Living is very expensive, I go to University in Bristol so I had accommodation already set up, but others I spoke to commented on how expensive it was. Socialising, depending on the activity, can vary quite a bit, but in general is a manageable cost.
Nightlife is decent. Again, I go to university here so was already aware of the nightlife. Although, since there were only a handful of us around the same age, going out at night wasn't a very often occurrence.
The Social and Sports Club was advertised to us and explained by another colleague. However, only being here for 3 months, we felt that we couldn't really get involved in anything, as we would have to leave so soon.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
Civil Engineering
South West
September 2015