Mace Insight Week Review

I found this insight week extremely enjoyable, as I learnt so much and felt like I really got to know the company. Everyone I met at Mace made me feel welcome, and the week has proved very useful for choosing career paths. The activities provided and social atmosphere also made it enjoyable.

The team emphasized how important it is to them to hire the best of the best. The fact that Mace put on this week would have been enough in itself to prove how strongly they feel about recruiting young talent, and they continually showed how highly they value the young talent.

The emerging talent team were there for every session during the week, and made it clear that we could come to them to ask about anything. The graduates which we engaged with were hugely encouraging and gave a lot of great advice, and let us know we could ask them anything.

This week was not directly relevant to my degree. However, the insight week has completely redefined my hopeful career path, and now I hope to pursue a career with Mace. They also gave us valuable CV, interview and assessment centre tips, which will be relevant throughout any future application process.

We were provided with a timetable in advance, which was stuck to throughout the week. The balance between presentations and activities was good, and we always knew where we had to be and when to be there. Four days also felt like the perfect duration, any longer could have been too much.

Everyone got on really well, and socialised outside of the week. The layout in the room and the team’s instructions meant I got to speak to everyone, and the small numbers helped it feel like we got to know each other well. Even during the assessment centre it didn’t feel like we were competing as the team made us feel relaxed.

I feel that Mace really invested a lot of time and money into this week, despite only small travel expenses being covered. The number of graduates who took time out of their day to speak to us was very impressive, and more senior members of staff got involved too.

Getting to speak to the graduates, both after presentations and one on one during the work place shadowing, helped me build up a good picture of how day to day life would be within the company. All graduates seemed to be open and honest about their job, and answered any questions sincerely.

The talk on the structure of Mace made it clear which roles are relevant for each stage of the project, and this was emphasized by the graduates’ presentations. The hierarchy and career progression was also clearly outlined, which was extremely useful. The work place shadowing gave a first hand view of company culture.

This week showed me a lot of options that I could pursue, and helped me settle on one which I intend to pursue for an industrial placement. Many people on the week discovered new positions which they would not have know about otherwise, and everyone got a better understanding of the roles required in the industry.

Only travel expenses to and from site visits were covered.