Periodic Safety Review Group Placement Review

Everybody was extremely kind and helpful, with a no question is a stupid question attitude, especially towards new starters. However sometimes my workload was a little bit thin meaning I was spending a lot of my time doing nothing, despite letting my supervisor know of my workload issues.

I do not believe my potential was explored to its fullest. I was working in a very documentation heavy department that required a huge amount of knowledge of the industry to contribute to the main output of the department. I was able to find work in a different department but with no direct work coming from my manager or supervisor the work provided was largely meanial.

Some of the people I did work for were extremely good and explaining the tasks I was doing to an appropriate level. However others were extremely unhelpful and left me to work on complex issues with no real direction. However everyone was extremely supportive of my development both in technical and soft skills.

I was not busy on a daily basis. Most days were spent doing mundane tasks or nothing at all due to the lack of work being provided to me, despite frequently looking and enquiring about possible opportunities. When I was busy (which was only on the odd occasion) I did find more enjoyment from my work.

I was given a few project of moderate responsibility and also seemed out other positions of responsibility. I found myself chairing a regular group meeting (once per month). As with any company, my work was required to be checked for any technical or grammatical mistakes. Overall there was very little opportunity to be part of a larger project spanning the whole placement, which I may have preferred.

My soft skill have developed massively over the placement, I have gained a great deal of knowledge from working in a professional environment and an understandings about the workings of a business. In terms of technical knowledge, I have developed a great deal within nuclear engineering, but less so in my degree subject. This knowledge will still benefit me as I plant to stay within the industry.

The atmosphere was ok. The office was open plan and there were plenty of opportunities to get involved in social clubs of networks within the company. There was plenty of chat around the place which could often be relatively distracting for me. There were also a large population of young workers on placements or on the grad scheme to hang around with and chat to.

The organisation of the placement was fairly good in terms of HR organising welcome events and the interview process. The placement was not planned out at all by the group I was placed in and they had no particular plan for the work that I could possibly take on during the year, it was more of a take it as it comes attitude. This was not particular good for my university requirements as I required a large project to write a dissertation on and resulted in an eventual change of group.

The firm invested in me in line with company policy of up to two weeks of training per week. I was given advice on which courses to take from my line manager but often the training was later than the task that I needed it for. However all training was very useful for my personal development and I learned a great deal of knowledge for a lot of different roles in the company.

The company awards sponsorship and a position on the grad scheme for high performing applicants. However the company had such a large intake of student from my discipline that they could not afford to take a lot of us on. This was to no issue of our own as all feedback from the placement was very positive, it was just a very competitive year in terms of the space available.

Yes, all the other placement students were very sociable and there was a lot of them. We frequently organised pub crawls, nights out and activities between us all. Many of us got in contact beforehand to organise house shares together. Otherwise there was little socialising with other colleagues who had been there before us, only on the Christmas social did they reallly socialise (or for retirement drinks).

The cost of living was reasonable as the placment was located in a student town. There were plenty of places that sold cheap drinks and another more upmarket local town if that floated your boat. Buses were regular and cheap but in general a car was needed, although there were plenty of local supermarkets. The cost of food in the canteen was reasonable, if a little high.

Plenty of option between the two local towns. The were standard student clubs and bars and spoons to have drinks in. For going out we would generally share a taxi to the other nearby town as it was more upmarket (and less dodgy) than the local places, even though we visited them plenty anyway.

The were social and sports club activities and a young professional network that organised occasional activities.