Senior Intern in Project Controls Review

My internship with this company was very diverse, involving numerous rotations around disciplines within the Project Controls function. I was able to exercise my independence by choosing how I wanted my internship to be scheduled, which disciplines I wanted to explore more deeply and the amount of work I wished to take on at any one time. Throughout my internship I worked within tight knit teams, under an inspirational mentor and was able to enjoy every day of my time at the company.

Each one of my colleagues took the time out to get to know me and I was quickly ushered in to a family-like team. Even now, two and a half months after my internship has finished, I am in contact with numerous people I met at my time at Bechtel. Whilst completing my internship project, I received vast amounts of support from my colleagues whom worked alongside me, rather than trying to 'manage' me. Collaboration was an integral part of my internship and was the catalyst for its success.

Throughout my internship I was given support on my tasks and I never felt as though I couldn't approach either my colleagues, or supervisor. Although the support was available, one of the key things was that I never felt as though someone was breathing down my neck. I was given independence and the ability to do things incorrectly, without being scared to try-learning from my mistakes ensured that I didn't develop a reliance on my manager's skill set. Support can often come in the form of a 'no pressure' environment, whereby interns are given the opportunity to attempt a task with simply words of encouragement.

In my internship, I visited over 10 different project offices- ranging from Reading to Romford, Maidenhead to Abbey Wood. Often, I wouldn't have time to complete tasks because I was so busy networking and travelling to different sites. The vast majority of project work was completed outside of work hours- this developed my independent working skills and has definitely been a work ethic that I've continued into my third year at university following my internship. I was never bored, in lieu, I was stretched and constantly pushed for time.

I was given a lot of responsibility throughout my internship. For example, after the third week I was given the responsibility of being a senior intern and thus having to manage the schedule, learning and tasks of another intern. Moreover, I was given a lot of learning tasks and reports which needed to be complete everyday- these were only reviewed twice throughout my internship and therefore required a huge amount of trust between my supervisor and I, as he had to submit my findings at the end of the internship.

The skills I developed include my ability to work within an integrated team, a group of individuals whom collectively worked toward the same goal however by different means. Also, my work ethic, ability concentrate for prolonged periods of time and independent working skills were all enhanced by this internship. All of the skills mentioned above will assist me in my degree. One key skills was the ability to see the interdependence of the disciplines I was rotating between, and to utilise that when critically analysing a task for example in cost management, by using my knowledge of scheduling and risk. This is a critical part of my degree, which is Politics, Philosophy and Economics as a joint honours. One thing I will add, though, is that perhaps I didn't actually spend enough time on software and instead focused too heavily on theory- softwares such as Excel are an integral part of any company and I am still relatively novice in it.

The atmosphere is my office was quite calm, although sometimes it could have been mistaken for boring. Because, mostly, I was in the client's office this is not a fair representation of Bechtel as a company. I made a lot of friends from the office I worked in and met some great people. There was a lack of general work 'banter' outside of the small team I worked in, however this rarely effected me as I was constantly working within teams or independently.

My internship schedule was rigid, well organised and smart. My supervisor allowed time for meetings, tasks, lunches and learning sessions in what was a ridiculously, well organised schedule. Everyday had an objective and it was upto me to decide whether or not that objective had been met. I always had the contact number or whomever I was meeting that day, as well as an exact address of the office I would be situated in. The clarity of instruction and well formed programme was key the success of the internship.

My supervisor heavily invested in my personal development, which helped me to achieve the objectives I had set for myself at the beginning of the internship. The company has various instruments it uses to train and nurture you, such as its goals inputting system, virtual learning facilities and buddy scheme.

I would have loved to have been offered a job with this company however, they did not offer me any graduate opportunities. I will be applying to this company's Early Career Hire scheme as I loved working at Bechtel. I'm sure that having completed a successful internship with the company that I will be in great stead when applying for a graduate job.

Several internship socials were organised however there wasn't a strong sense of cohesion between the interns as we were generally quite split up. However, I did have a great social scene with my work colleagues, especially the young graduates that I worked with. Often, my colleagues and I went to the local pub, got lunch or had dinner together after work.

I was working in West London, predominantly, so it was quite an expensive place to socialise in. My colleagues and I would generally try to go somewhere a bit cheaper for food and drink so didn't spend too much money when socialising.

There is great nightlife across London, and throughout my internship I would meet up with school or university friends on a Friday night so that we could go out in The City. One of my favourite nights from my internship involved a work organised boat party on the River Thames, which I attended with my girlfriend. Following the boat party, I went on to attend a nearby club and the night was an absolutely success. Overall, good night life and Bechtel definitely facilitated one of my best nights of summer.

There were not many activities outside of work, however I didn't really expect this from my internship so I wasn't particularly taken aback by it. Perhaps, some sort of Graduate and Intern activities would have been good but nothing of the sort was organised.