Student Quantity Surveyor Review

I had Really enjoyed my placement and learnt a lot this year with Costain, this has definitely helped with my knowledge and has given me relevant on site experience. This placement will also help with my final year in University and also when I graduate in the summer of 2019.

I felt that I was welcomed into the team well, I felt valued by the team and I wasn't singled out due to my age or gender. Sometimes I felt that colleagues could have given me more feedback and constructive criticism in order to improve myself for jobs when I graduate.

Couldn't fault my line manager on the support and guidance he had given me and made sure that we had monthly meetings in order to discuss my placement. I feel like more constructive criticism could have been made so I could improve my work so it could be to the best of it's ability.

Some days and weeks were busier than others but I always made sure that I had something to do and I was getting on with my work in a professional and promptly manner. I asked the other Quantity Surveyors if they needed me to take on any of their work for them occasionally.

I feel like I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement with making payments and ultimately sub-managing some of the subcontractors. Being in charge on all the measurements being measured on site was a big job which I needed to use different techniques in order to get these.

When completing University work during my placement year I saw a big increase in the marks I got, I was able to use my new found knowledge to get higher standards in my Uni work.

The atmosphere in the office was more or less good and everyone got on well with each other both on site and in the office. I felt comfortable speaking to everyone and I was able to have professional conversations with everyone in all professions. The office was lively and chatty.

For my first day I was instructed on where I was going to be working and what I was going to be doing. I was introduced to the team straight away and once I had got settled I started work straight away with measuring, I was helped to do this by the project Quantity surveyor.

On a few occasions we had a few nights out as a project to the local nightlife scenes as well as some activities to work on our team building skills and communication skills. We also went to company events such as Christmas dinners and other dinners that included charity fundraisers.

Because I lived within 20 miles from where I lived with my mum the cost of living was cheap and the socialising was brilliant as I was used to this already. The cost of travelling however wasn't the best and if their were bus services or train services close to site I would have used these.

There weren't any opportunities for me to get involved in activities outside of work as there were no options. Some of my colleagues organised to do activities with each other because they lived close to each other and had the same interests but this didn't apply to me at all. I was asked if I wanted to join football but this wasn't an activity I enjoyed.