Undergraduate Placement Review

I enjoyed the majority of my internship but felt that as it came to its end I was glad to be finishing up.

Any of my colleagues that I worked with closley gave me excellent support and responsibility that I felt privalledged to obtain.

My managers were always availble and willing to give me support and answer any queries that I had relating to the work.

Throughout my placement I had a steady workload but I was never overworked.

I was very impressed with the level of responsibilty that I was given from compiling reports within the AIP team to be sent to the client to being trusted to work on my own initiative within the landscapping team to come up with a new innovate way of recording data from route inspections. I was also very surprised by the level of responsibility given to all students with regards to driving company vehicles.

A lot of the skills that I have learned whilst on placement will be beneficial in helping me with university but I feel that the learning that I acheived with regards to the industry itself and its operation as well as career development opportunities was second to none and something that I will probably not learn at university.

At times the office could be very dulled and subdued but throughout my time there were certainly enjoyable moments from fund raising activities and celebrations for people leaving or for birthdays.

The set up of the placement was ok. On starting we were given a full induction and introduced to our new teams. Within a few days we were given full ppe, access cards, motorway passes and had sat our driving assessments. I was very impressed by this effciency but I believe that it stalled as the placement progressed. In particular when we switched departments. I was due to join the geotech team but was never introduced to the line manager and not knowing who she was I had to find out for myself. On arrival at my new team I was swiftly shipped off to the landscaping team as the geotech team seemed unwilling to have me as part of their deparment. This was quite disheartening as I was looking forward to learning some geotech issues in a working environment but it worked out well and I enjoyed working in the landscaping team.

With only being a student full investment in my training and development rarely occurred but this was understandable in the current economic climate. However, I was always made aware of any ICE CPD events that were going on around the office and I was always invited where possible.

Future employment prospects with Amey are very good with sponsorships on offer to the students who performed well during their placement. However, I am still looking to experience different areas of the industry with a view of entering management consultancy so I felt that the sponsorships on offer didnt suit my career goals. In saying that I noticed that Amey offer a Graduate Leadership Program which ties in well with my interests and having shown that I was keen on this program people from the office managed to put me in touch with the right people across the company to gain more information on the program, so I was very thankful for that.

Weekly 5s games were played and the students all socialised outside of the office playing badminton and having a night out.

I lived at home whilst on placement so my only costs arose from driving to and from work. I also car shared with two other students so this brought the cost of traveling down as well. There was also a lack of places to eat so this meant that I often brought lunch with me, again reducing my costs and temptations.

I dont think that this question is relevant with regards to my placement as I was here for the working experience and not the nightlife. The office location is fairly remote with regards to pubs and clubs so the nightlife is fairly non existent and rightly so.

I was always invited to play fives or attend lunches for people's birthdays.