Placement Trainee (Project Management) Review

The placement with Mace involved me spending 10 weeks working with one of our client (National Grid) in the utilities sector of the business. Overall everyone I met and worked with on the placement were helpful, approachable and knowledgeable and more than willing to engage at length with any questions asked of to them.

All of my colleagues throughout my time here treated me as an equal and valued member of the team. All of them were happy to engage with me and asked if me on occasion if they could show me something they found useful when starting out in there career. I would often ask them questions which they would answer in good detail and easily expand on concepts I was unfamiliar with.

Myself and my line manager had an excellent working relationship over the course of the 10 weeks. He would trust me to carry out tasks, but should I have gotten stuck or require any assistance would be more than happy to help or provide contacts for people those that could.

Overall the work load was very manageable. I certainly cannot recall a day during the 10 weeks where I felt overworked or stressed by deadlines. Generally for me my days would consist of report writing, note taking in meetings and organising meetings with colleagues to discuss there roles. On the days where I would finish early I would often look up documentation that would allow me to better understand what would be discussed in meetings and enroll on Mace E-Learning courses.

Given that my placement only lasted 10 weeks I was somewhat limited in what I could oversee. Responsibility was also limited by our client which was very security and safety conscious. That being said my line manager and I attempted to eek as much out of my time there as we could so I was given responsibility of writing a report for possible construction methods that could be applied to various sites across the UK. The report would outline which method the contractors should use.

As my background is in Civil Engineering, the technical aspects of my degree were not challenged greatly aside from design reviews with a precast concrete unit manufacturer where my understanding of concrete beam manufacture was useful. This lack of civils is primarily due to the job I was working on not involving much. This was not an issue as other skills I had picked up were tested and improved. My timekeeping, learning skills, management and report writing have all been improved following my placement here.

I worked out of several offices across the UK in the 10 weeks. The atmosphere in most was pretty cheery even given some of the stressful days for some of them. there were a few offices that tended to be a little more dull though this was primarily down to there being far fewer people about and perhaps also because I moved about a fair amount.

Although not the case for all placement students, I was informed of my base for the summer only one and a half weeks before I started. I was assured that I would be close to home for commuting before that but did not have it in writing to be sure. Fortunately, Mace also don't expect even their summer placement students to pay upfront for most travel and accommodation which is certainly beneficial for a poor student. Upon arriving at site, staff knew I was turning up and my line manager sat me down pretty quickly to figure out what I wanted from the 10 weeks as well as outlining some of the key points that Mace require anyway for all starters.

Mace required all summer placement students to complete a number of E-Learning courses prior to completion of the placement. However, they have a large range of free online courses available over the 10 weeks on top of the mandatory ones which you are free to enroll on at anytime. Mace also helped by arranging appropriate training to allow me to work on National Grid sites.

All summer placement students are required to fill out a document with there line manager and business unit director which upon completion of the placement they can sign and either recommend or not recommend you on there graduate scheme within your desired business unit. Thankfully I was given a recommendation on the scheme so could be starting with Mace next September as a graduate. Mace really seem to invest in grads and placement students both financially and in terms of time so I am looking forward to working with them again in the future.

Over the 10 weeks 3 official social events were held. 2 for colleagues and 1 for all placement students in London. All three were excellent opportunities to get to know my peers on a more personal level which certainly helped when wanting to communicate during work. All three events were also all paid for by Mace

Generally I was commuting from home so I would only stay in hotels for 3-4 nights a week maximum. As all of the jobs were outside of London, prices were manageable. Mace provide a good amount of subsistence when away from your permanent work place. Colleagues would often go out for dinner together after work if they were staying in the same area which certainly made you feel more welcome as a new employee. More often than not my senior colleagues would often pay for dinner anyway.

As most of the sites I was working on were outside of major towns and cities, nightlife opportunities were generally limited for me, London based students tended to have more nightlife opportunities during the 10 weeks. However the 3 Mace organized events in London, Castle Donnington and Nottingham were particularly good.

Mace run a scheme called Mace Days which allow you to take two days a year off to volunteer. This is not open however to summer placement students, though it is for industrial placements. Opportunities are regularly advertised on Mace's intranet page so all employees are aware of what you can do if you come back.