Environmental Advisor Review

I really enjoyed the placement, especially learning about the tasks involved and the regular on-site visits were enjoyable, as were the opportunities I was given to pursue tasks of particular personal interest that were also of value to the company. The visits to on-site locations were especially valuable to see in practise the challenges faced by environmental advisors, and how decisions made based on legislation can be put in practise. This helped me to visualise the situation we were attempting to solve, and helped improve my understanding of what work entails in a construction industry. It also helped to keep the job varied, help me to reflect the different elements required for the role, and keep focused on the job at hand.

Within the environment section, I felt that I was appreciated by the leads who regularly showed their support and approval for the work I was doing and were more than happy to explain the more complex management issues that they dealt with on the job. They were also very open to ideas and new ways of carrying out tasks, making me feel that my suggestions were appreciated. However, colleagues outside the of environment were not always so appreciative and some people seemed to view my work as an inconvenience to them, although most people did seem to value the work I carried out when they started to see the ways in which it could potentially be beneficial to their work.

The management were supportive but also gave me the freedom to pursue tasks to the benefit of the scheme and that were also of personal interest to me. In the first half of the placement, there was a higher level of guidance as to how the scheme was organised and what areas were there key focuses. In the second half of the placement, although I was given advice on how to carry out certain tasks and which people to approach to resolve specific challenges, there was a good level of independence to allow me to pursue my placement objectives. The management were always happy to provide advice when I asked but allowed me to carry out tasks without assistance if it was not needed.

I was busy most of the time during the course of the placement, with certain periods of time being especially busy. During the first half of the placement, the management did an excellent job of ensuring that there was a variety of tasks for me to get involved with and carry out. During the second half of the placement I was also busy most of the time but it was my responsibility to plan my work activities to ensure that I completed the tasks required, rather than looking to others to ensure I had work to do.

I was impressed at the level of responsibility given, as I was granted authority to organise high profile awareness events and talks, which gained the awareness of a large majority of office workers even the more senior managers, as well as some site workers. I was also given the responsibility to educate colleagues through special educational talks which I delivered, as well as the opportunity to interact with senior members of other departments to work on tasks together. The high level of responsibility I was given was shown by the freedom I was given to plan my own work schedule and the ability to pursue tasks of particular interests to develop my knowledge over a broader range of topics.

I was able to practise and improve a variety of skills that have been hugely beneficial for my BSc Geography degree, including report writing, designing presentations and time management skills. I was also given the opportunity to practise public speaking to a formal audience on three different occasions, and about different topics. This was especially useful as this was something that I had mentioned in my placement objectives that I would like to develop further over the course of my time there. I was also given the opportunity to develop my GIS skills, particularly through the use of the collector app and technical aspects of using the software. The extra practise with GIS has been really beneficial to me as I have been able to use it for a variety of modules and assignments so far this year.

The atmosphere was generally very good, with other office workers being supportive of the work I was doing, and often more than happy to discuss the type of work they were doing on the scheme. Other staff members were also happy to provide advice on how tasks could be carried out better and took an active interest in the work I was doing for the project.

The placement was generally very well organised, with the first half of the placement focussing on the general topics that affect the work of an environmental advisor. During the second half of the placement I was allowed to pursue tasks of particular interest to me. However, this meant that I was the one organising my work schedule and my manager did not need to be actively involved in what I was working on every day.

The company invested in me to a very large extent by encouraging me to attend relevant work away days to improve my knowledge of the industry and improve my level of training. I was also encouraged to gain important qualifications such as taking the tests required to gain a CSCS card, to improve my employment prospects in the industry in the future.

Future employment prospects for environment related roles are very good in the wider construction industry with the company highlighting the forward planning and future projects that would be available. However, employment in the future on the exact project I worked on is unlikely due to the high number of staff already employed.

When the opportunity arose for me to meet other placement students, there was a good chance to socialise especially at the end of the placements after we had delivered our summary presentations. However, due to the nature of the work I was only regularly in contact with the fellow student working on the same project as me, with only sporadic opportunities to interact with other placement students of the same age.

The area I was based in was in Cambridgeshire and therefore wasn’t particularly cheap, with hotels and taxis being particularly expensive. However, the allowance provided by the company to cover these costs meant that I did not have to spend as much of my own money on this as anticipated, and therefore this was not a big issue for me.

Due to my main office being located nearest to a small village, there was not a huge amount of nightlife near my accommodation. However, some larger towns near other offices did have better nightlife and I was able to sample this at a team social at the end of the placement.

There were some opportunities however due to the fact that I was living away from home and did not have my own car it was not particularly easy for me to get involved in these activities. I could have got involved with activities outside of work in the evening however due to the hours I worked this was not always convenient.