Buyer - Procurement Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at National Grid, I have learnt and developed more than I expected.

During my placement I have spent 6 months with two teams. Both teams made me feel extremely welcome, offered me support and took a lot of interest in my development.

Support and Guidance was always available. I was given control over often I would meet with my managers and they were always more than happy to help. I found myself needing more time in the first few months, and then gradually less as I gained confidence.

I found the two roles that I had in Procurement at National Grid had a wide verity of work. From ad-hoc analytical work to a full tender project.

In the second part of my placement I managed two contracts worth in excess of £3 million per annum, and ran a tender event for the provision of National Grid's waste management services, worth a total of c. £6 million. I found myself becoming extremely proud of the work I had been given to manage.

Throughout my placement, during both training offered and on the job experience I have learnt/developed a vast amount of skills, from procurement specific acumen to stakeholder management.

I was situated at the Head Office in Warwick. The office is a great place to work with a mixture of desk spaces, meeting rooms and break out area's for more informal meetings. The office has fantastic facilities including, a large canteen, Costa coffee shops, a gym and a dentist.

It was very well organized, each of my managers had arranged some great work for me before I had arrived and made sure they were available whenever I needed them.

I received 3 days off-site training when I arrived as an introduction to National Grid, I was then offered all the training a member of Procurement at National Grid would require which included many day courses. I was also given access to 'newnet' which is a network that provide new starters trips and talks across all the business area's to help gain a wider business awareness. Furthermore, if I felt as though an external visit or something similar would be valuable to my development, my managers would be fully supportive.

The chances of getting a place on the graduate scheme with National Grid are extremely high providing you perform well on your placement and you demonstrate the right attitudes.

As previously mentioned, being part of 'newnet' meant there was social events almost every week you could attend with like minded new starters. I lived in a house of 7 students all working for National Grid meaning there were always people around and things to do.

A large proportion of the socializing was paid for, from networking events to Christmas parties. I lived in Leamington Spa during my time at National Grid, the housing was fairly expensive but not noticeably high.

The majority of Warwick University students live in Leamington Spa and there are a lot of young professionals in the area. There is a verity of bars and clubs in the area.

Yes.