year in industry student Review

I have been enjoying my work placement at Network Rail quite a bit at times since the staff I have had exposure with have been nothing but pleasant for the most part and have light hearted humour. My manager and I also have a good work relationship with him always being positive and willing to answer any queries if I need him.

I feel the same amount of value as for everybody else and nobody has discriminated against me for being a year in industry student on an industrial placement. I gain the same amount of treatment by all my colleagues and even with the smallest things such as offering tea or coffee.

I am given a lot of support and guidance by my manager which makes me feel very comfortable at the workplace and so I am able to try my best and if I am every worried if I am doing anything incorrectly, I am able to contact my manager and ask without nervousness which is efficient for getting my work done for Network Rail.

My placement for the most part has been about shadowing colleagues whom have allowed me to see and understand their processes which has illustrated a clear design of the layer cake which is Network Rail. I have not had the chance to showcase my skills with many projects however it has only been 2 months of my placement and more opportunities will come.

I have not had much responsibility as of yet since all I have been doing is learning about the end to end processes of the company and having site and depot visits. The main responsibility I have had is to protect myself in the tracks and make sure I am safe at all times.

The skills I will be developing will definitely assist me in my degree studies and beyond since this opportunity gave me access to the knowledge of the working environment for a massive corporation with so many different sections working together for one goal. The skills will definitely help me with my university work since I am continuously developing IT skills and communication skills.

The office atmospheres depend on the delivery unit I am spending time in since they are all different however I believe the general atmosphere of the offices are calm with light hearted humour every so often however sometimes it is very silent with everybody being focused with completing their work.

My overall work placement was not organised well in the beginning since clear communication wasn't sent to my manager about what the aim for my industrial placement. However, I spent time with him with a few meetings early on to create a work plan of what I wanted to do and he is trying his best to make sure I get what I want.

The company has invested in me with training and development opportunities for throughout the entire year and I have completed one of the training which was the personal track safety examination which allows me to keep safe on the rails when I am working on it. I have more opportunities throughout the year to improve my presentation skills as well.

I am very appealed by future employment prospects within the organisation, particularly the financial side of the corporation. I want to be able to get into the financial grad scheme and so I am working hard through all my tasks and trying to gain some experience in the financial team in order to gain a grad offer.

I am alone with the industrial placement role for the company however whenever I have the opportunity to spend time with pther placement students in different roles, it has had a good overall social scene and we have lunch together however for the most part with my role, I am not with many placement students.

I am commuting to Liverpool for the most part of my placement and so I don't have time to socialise afterwards since I need to get my train back home and complete the rest of my tasks for the day. The train costs can be quite costly at times however I am thinking of it as an investment into gaining a grad job.

The nightlife in Liverpool seems to be very good from what others have explained to me however I have not had the chance to enjoy it since I am commuting to work by train. I have plans for Christmas time to have a night out in Liverpool and I am expecting it to be good.

There are opportunities with going to different depots in my role and so that is always refreshing and makes the role fun and not boring. There are volunteering opportunities for the company which is very appealing to me and I will be applying for a few once I have found a day in which I can spend in Liverpool.