Placement Year Review at Balfour Beatty

The Role

Role Description

Infrastructure Services Intern

1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?

★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 5/10

There were times when I wasn't given enough work. Plus, there wasn't a lot of real engineering work going on - much of it was just doing run-around jobs for the managers.

2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rated 8/10

I was based on a motorway depot. The people in the office were really nice, and there were office parties etc.

3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?

★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Rated 6/10

The management were pretty good at supporting me, given how inexperienced I was. There were times when I didn't have enough work to do though.

4. How busy were you on a daily basis?

★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 2/10

The were times when I had a real project to work on; much of the time was spent doing admin-type work though.

5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?

★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 4/10

I had one task to roll out a new electronic data capture device which was kind of interesting. This task only took a small amount of my time though.

6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?

★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 4/10

The only benefit was really learning to work in the office environment within a team.

The Organisation

7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?

★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Rated 6/10

There were some really cool people there who were quite friendly. It was a small office though, so it was quite boring at times.

8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Rated 7/10

It was reasonably well organised and my manager was good at looking after me.

9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?

★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rated 8/10

The company spent a lot on training. They offered me customer focus training, and an advanced driver course.

10. What were the perks on your work placement?

★★★★★★★★★★

Rated 10/10

• Company Car
• National Travel
• Company Parties/Events

11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?

★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 4/10

Perhaps if I were able to work in the Head Office (rather than the motorway depot), the prospect might have been more appealing. I generally didn't find the highways maintenance industry very exciting though

Other Information

12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?

★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 3/10

There were only two interns in the whole office. There weren't many grads either; it would have been better if there were more people my own age there.

13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Rated 7/10

You can largely choose where you live, because this particular part of the company offered a free company car with free fuel. This was one of the best bits of the job.

14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?

★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Rated 5/10

Can't really say I tried it.

15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Rated 7/10

I used to play golf with my office once a week, that was about it. There were the usual Christmas office parties etc.

In addition to these questions, is there any extra information you would like to leave about your experiences on your work placement that other students may be interested in?

I think I was unlucky that I was on a motorway depot, doing highways maintenance. The more exciting engineering work probably only happened at the Head Office. The company was really good at looking after my development needs though.

Review 2/2 for Balfour Beatty

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