Safety Performance Industrial Placement student Review

I really enjoyed my time working in the Safety Performance team at NATS. The placement provided me with the opportunity to work independently and gain experience in the field relating to aviation and air traffic control safety. The team provided a welcoming environment, with expertise and support offered when needed. I had the opportunity to work on several major projects, as well as organising and managing some of my own. Experience with coding and presentation from this placement also aided towards skill development for future employment.

The opportunity to get involved in team and wider projects evidenced that my teamvalued the input of a placement student, and the perspective I was able to provide. Furthermore, work that I completed was appreciated, with colleagues thanking me for my work and often returning to me with future requests. Additionally, my colleagues were happy to provide clarification and expertise when requested, such that my assistance was worthwhile. I was also invited to present a summary of my teams work at a conference, due to recognition of previous work I had produced.

All members of the company were very supportive, with expertise, advice and clarification happily provided when asked. My supervisor and team were always willing to explain any of the processes or systems relating to my role, specific projects or administrative tasks. This was given constructively, with explanations of rationale as well as the method, allowing me to apply this to other work. This guidance however still provided me with the opportunity to independently problem solve, using existing examples and research of standard practices.

This placement was well judged, with plenty of work available to utilise my time effectively and ensure I was working productively. Although the exact workload fluctuated day-to-day, depending on requests from other business areas, although I was mostly busy, the workload was always manageable in the time allotted. The advantage to having multiple aspects to the role, including regularly timed tasks, ad-hoc requests and development and expansion project work, was that these could be prioritsed depending on importance and deadline, ensuring there was always work to do while allowing the work to be spread out.

This placement provided me with the opportunity to take responsibility for my own tasks, as well as develop individual projects. During my time, I was rsponsible for managing the production, distribution and maintenance of a number of performance slide packs, with team assistance only in initial introduction and with quality assurance, allowing higher confidence in the result compared to solely self-certification of presentation. Independent working was also encouraged through project work, with an initial brief of the task provided before a self directed approach to a solution was taken. This enabled me to consider my own processes and justifications for each stage, relaying this back to my team upon completion.

The role aided in the development of a number of technical skills, with use of a number of coding languages not previously used before my placement. Furthermore, I gained experience with databases and datastream capture, as well as data analysis and presentation methods. Communication skills were also benefitted, working with team members and colleagues across the business, as well as presenting information and results to customers. This often required consideration of content, customer understanding, perspective and required purpose, such that my formatting and tone was adjusted to suit the audience.

The office atmosphere was very supportive and welcoming, with introductions to colleagues across the team and area, alongside explanations of the projects individuals and teams were working on. It was easy to approach people with questions, with responses happily forthcoming and expanded upon when needed. Discussion around the office also maintained engagement, allowing conversation with staff from other teams and areas.

The organisation within my team was very good, with a clear arrangement and structure, combined with good forward planning for future events, such as transfer of tasks between team members in case of holiday or illness. The organisation of the interviewing and induction processes could have been improved slightly, with some information given out a bit late, or slightly lacking clarity. This was perhaps partially due to this being the first trial of the centrally managed recruitment process, replacing an independent team recruitment process previously. However, this did not affect the quality of the placement and did not prove a hinderance in the application or onboarding processes.

In conjunction to the initial introductions and induction process, which allowed networking throughout the company, understanding of the company structure and operations, additional personal development opportunities were made available throughout the year. This included freely available virtual training courses for learning to use presentation softwares, including configuration and programming. Furthermore, there were a number of presentation and discussion sessions with high level coroporate and board members and major team, project and service leaders, which I attended, enabling understanding and discussion of the future of the company, current objectives and targets. This improved understanding was applicable in return to my role, incorporating expected future direction in the planning and development of data presentation. Due to restraints resulting from the impact of COVID19, some of the opportunities specific to integrating new starters into the business, especially towards the end of the placement, were cancelled, however, overall, there was a range of training opportunities for high levels of personal skill development.

Due to current impacts of COVID-19, it is difficult to determine future employment prospects at present. I believe my placement went well and under normal conditions, my employment expectations would be relatively high, however this currently depends on the capacity for openings following my graduation. Given the opportunity, I would be happy to return to the company from my experience over this placement year.

As there were quite a large number of placement students located across the company, this provided a strong network of peers in differing areas of the business. As well as aiding in work and understanding of the roles of different teams within the business, this also allowed a comfortable working environment and discussion of non-work related topics outside of work. A number of organised social events, including team meals, an area Christmas meal and a placement student teambuilding evening also contributed to good relationships between colleagues.

A wide range of accomodation ranges were available to meet expectations, budget and preference, with the cities of Southampton, Portsmouth and Winchester providing a wide range of options for lower, middle and higher living costs, while smaller villages nearer the site provided a slightly greater convenience for commuting. Similarly for socialising, the range of opportunities for socialising also allowed for choice on expenditure. Overall, the cost for living and socialising was reasonable and covered by the placement salary.

As many colleagues commuted from larger cities, including Southampton and Portsmouth, both provided suitable Nightlife including pubs, restaurants, bars and clubs. The good public transport connections to many of the surrounding towns also allowed for cost effective access to and from these cities. Nearer to the workplace was a retial park with a range of restaurants, shops, cafes, supermarkets and a cinema.

Many sporting and other activity clubs were available outisde of work, including go-karting, football and golf, among many others. There were also a wide range of external clubs and activity facilites that colleagues often attended in groups, including climbing and watersports.