Summer Student Review

The part I enjoyed the most about this placement was the people I worked with and the atmosphere of the company. It was very motivating but not stressful meaning I enjoyed my time. However the projects I worked on were not as exciting as I had hoped and some days were rather slow.

I felt very valued by my colleagues, I was always willing to lend a helping hand which allowed me to meet people, work within new teams and be useful so that my colleagues realised I had some value. I was invited on a number of socials which allowed me to interact with people outside of the work place and allowed me to feel more connected with them.

My supervisors gave me a lot of support and guidance, they were always on hand to help me and reassure me with my progress and work. Also other colleagues who I worked along side were also happy to lend support or guidance when I asked them and always happy to help to help me learn.

Each day varied, some days I was very busy and a bit stressed, having lots of jobs to do in a variety of places. However some days the projects were on hold and I found myself with lots of free time and nothing to do, which at times made me very bored. It is better to take it as a weeks glance in which they were all equally balanced. As some days every week are always quiet such as a Monday and Friday.

I was given a surprising amount of responsibility which helped to make me feel valued. Although it was finalising work I was able to work independently on side line projects and was allowed to manage my time and work schedule to suit me the best. Overall it was the perfect balance between learning and feeling in charge.

In reality I don't think the skills I have picked up here will relate in my degree as the work isn't as practical. However when it comes to future jobs I have learnt a lot of small skills that will be very useful that I didn't learn on my course. It also helped me pick up networking skills and building my confidence in the work place.

The atmosphere within my office was very relaxed and friendly. The open working spaces meant it was less daunting and encouraged interaction between colleagues, This helped me to get to know people very quickly and create working relations. This meant it was easy to find help and ask people from different roles for advice.

The internship was reasonably well organised, The recruitment process very much so and all is done at the beginning of the academic year. However it takes quite a while after receiving an offer to hear any more news or information about location and start dates which can make finding accommodation quite hard and a bit stressful too. But eventually things do get sorted and it all turns out well.

As I was here for only 3 months not much was done to invest with me as there was uncertainty if I will work for the company again, However a lot I done with people who have a more permanent t position as the company is always trying to develop its workforce as much as possible to make sure that it is being the best it can be with the best people. A number of courses are provided to allow people to learn more skills and develop as a person.

Within this company there are a number of entry routes for employment within the future. Despite being very competitive and hard to get there are a wide range of roles for different education backgrounds. This means that even if you didn't like your placement there are options for you to stay within the same company but take on a different role.

The people at this office were friends as well as colleagues and aimed to socialise outside of work to help build bonds and become and better working team. Despite being a placement student they were eager to involve me and invite me to a variety of events so that I felt included and valued. This helped me to settle into my role and find friends.

As a place Bedford isn't a particularly expensive place to live especially for food. However I found accommodation to be quite expensive which I suspect is due to a large number of people commuting from Bedford to work in London. Travel is also quite expensive especially by bus and the number of routes and times is very restricted.

The nightlife here in Bedford isn't roaring and clubs aren't in plentiful supply however there are a large number of pubs which are open late and offer a good atmosphere, The closer you live to the centre of town the better as the restaurants and pubs are easier to access and safer to walk to at night, There are also a large number of shops however these tend to close at 5/5.30 which means it is hard to shop after work.

Work offer a number of activities during lunch times and after work for a variety of sports and hobbies which cater for all interests, However outside of these opportunities I found that Bedford didn't offer much especially during the evenings which meant this could be quite long and boring. If I had a placement for longer than 3 months it may have been easier to start something. If you didn't have a car it also made it hard to start activities as hard to get across town to access them.