Summer Placement Student Review

I really enjoyed my placement. Everyone on the site was very friendly and always willing to help and answer any questions I had.

My line manager and buddy were very appreciative of my work and spent a lot of time with me but I didn't have the opportunity to work with many other people.

My buddy and line manager were both very supportive and provided me with all the guidance and support I needed.

I always had plenty to do but didn't feel like I was struggling to keep up with everything. At the beginning of my placement I wasn't given many tasks to do but I always had something to keep me occupied.

During the placement I wrote permits for work on site and had the opportunity to supervise some minor works but all was with the supervision of my buddy to the safety critical nature of the work.

The skills I learnt will be useful when doing my masters next year and will be invaluable if I pursue a career in construction.

Everyone was very friendly and easy to talk to. There were various charity events held to allow more opportunities to socialise and also plenty of team pub visits after work.

Once I'd arrived at site everything was well organised and they had clearly put a lot of effort into planning my placement. However, the process before I started working was not quite as organised due to miscommunication regarding my start and finish dates.

I had the opportunity to go on a week long lean construction course which was very beneficial and allowed me to work with more members of the team. My line manager was very supportive in providing opportunities for me to develop more.

My line manager is very keen for me to return to Costain and has said he will recommend they sponsor me for my final year and put me forward for the graduate scheme. However I will still need to attend an assessment centre before I can be given a job offer.

Most weeks there was a social event organised due to someone leaving or just for team socialisation. There was also a site football team and a table tennis table for people tob use at lunch time. It would have been good to have more social events with other placement students though.

I lived and worked in London which is very expensive but I was given an accommodation and travel allowance which covered the costs.

London has a great night life and there is loads to do but it is expensive compared to other student towns and cities.

They had a company funded football team but I don't play football so it didn't appeal to me. Other than going for drinks after work there weren't many other activities.