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THE SCOTT SUTHERLAND FURTHER SCHOOL INFORMATION INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENT STUDENT PROFILES 2003 If you have any queries, would like to find out more about Industrial Placements or if you have identified an employment opportunity please contact: Placement Experiences 2003 Mr G Castle The Industrial Placement Tutor The Scott Sutherland School The Robert Gordon University Garthdee Road ABERDEEN AB10 7QB Telephone [phone] or 263715 Fax. 01224 - 263777 E-Mail [e-mail] How did you acquire your placement? What experience did you gain? CONSTRUCTION I began to look for a placement with a The apartments were at the beginning of the MANAGEMENT company very early (around handover process which meant I only October) because I knew that there would received experience in minor construction be a lot competition for any opportunities works but I received valuable experience in that arose. I wanted to work in France but man management, organisation and time because my French Language skills were management, dealing with sub-contractors, rusty I looked for a French Company that making decisions and stress management. was active in the UK. What problems did you encounter and I sent my CV with a cover letter to those how did you resolve them? companies asking if they had vacancies for My biggest problem was my inexperience of placement employment in the UK. Bouygues in France, who in a recent ...

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• management
• managers

Informations

• Publié par: Vewyig
• Nombre de lectures: 10
• Langue: English

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FURTHER

INFORMATION

If you have any queries, would like to find

out more about Industrial Placements or if

you

have

identified

an

employment

opportunity please contact:

Mr G Castle

The Industrial Placement Tutor

The Scott Sutherland School

The Robert Gordon University

Garthdee Road

ABERDEEN

AB10 7QB

Telephone [phone] or

263715

Fax. 01224 - 263777

E-Mail [e-mail]

THE SCOTT SUTHERLAND

SCHOOL

INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENT

STUDENT PROFILES 2003

PlacementExperiences2003

CONSTRUCTION

MANAGEMENT

Which course are you enrolled upon?

Construction Management.

Why did you choose to undertake a

period of industrial placement?

My main reason for undertaking a period of

industrial placement was because I believe

that

practical

experience

within

the

construction industry is just as important as

learning theory. It was also a chance to work

in a big company and find out for myself if it

was really what I wanted to do.

How did the placement satisfy these

objectives?

The placement gave me more experience

than I thought it would have done. It was

challenging

as I was

given a lot of

responsibility and in exchange I felt I was

not thought of as just a student but part of

the team.

How did you acquire your placement?

I began to look for a placement with a

company

very

early

(around

October) because I knew that there would

be a lot competition for any opportunities

that arose. I wanted to work in France but

because my French Language skills were

rusty I looked for a French Company that

was active in the UK.

I sent my CV with a cover letter to those

companies asking if they had vacancies for

placement

employment

in

the

UK.

Bouygues in France, who in a recent report

were said to be the 3

rd

biggest international

company in the world, passed my CV

to their subsidiary Bouygues UK in London

and I was given an interview and then

offered a job.

Where did you work?

I was taken on by Bouygues UK in London,

and was a site engineer working upon a

multi-million pound luxury flat development

in Fulham.

What did you do at work?

I worked in a 5-storey luxury apartment

block and was given full responsibility of the

production of the whole of the 4

th

floor,

which included the production of 10 luxury

flats and the Common Area.

I was also

involved in the finishing of the stairwells and

organised the instalment of all the fire

signage of the building. I had control over

my own team of workers who I had to direct

to carry out these works. I also had to deal

with all the sub-contractors who did works

on the 4

th

floor.

What experience did you gain?

The apartments were at the beginning of the

handover process which meant I only

received experience in minor construction

works but I received valuable experience in

man management, organisation and time

management, dealing with sub-contractors,

making decisions and stress management.

What problems did you encounter and

how did you resolve them?

My biggest problem was my inexperience of

running a team.

At the beginning the

workers in my team would take advantage of

that, which I believe helped me to learn how

to deal with running a team a lot faster.

Stress was a problem I learned to deal with.

The site was a year over run due to design

faults which meant everything was moving

faster than it would normally.

The more

experience I got, the less stressed I became.

How did your placement help you with

your studies?

I believe the placement has helped me with

my studies by teaching me important skills

like organisation and stress management. I

am a lot more focused on my course as I

k

n

o

w

t

h

i

s

i

s

w

h

a

t

I

w

a

n

t

t

o

d

o

w

h

e

n

I

graduate.

How do you think your placement will

help you find employment when you

graduate?

I received very good feedback from my

manager

and

was

recommended

for

employment. If I decided not to go back to

London I think the experience I have gained

within this placement would help me to find

a good job within the construction industry

generally.

What was the best thing about your

placement?

The best thing I have gained from this

placement apart from being recommended

for employment with the company is that I

was able to do the job.

Any regrets about having undertaken a

placement?

I have no regrets with having undertaken an

industrial placement as I have benefited

greatly from it and believe that it is

important to get some practical experience

as well as the theory and also determine if

this is what you really want to do.

ARCHITECTURAL

TECHNOLOGY

Which course are you enrolled upon?

Architectural Technology.

Why did you choose to undertake a

period of industrial placement?

I chose to undertake a period of work

experience to develop my skills in the above

discipline and gain a first hand insight to the

workings of the industry.

How did the placement satisfy these

objectives?

My placement fully exceeded all expectations

of this module and greatly enhanced my

knowledge

and

understanding

of

this

discipline.

How did you acquire your placement?

I acquired my placement through sending

off my C.V. under the instructions from a

member of family.

Where did you work?

Spowers Architects, Darwin NT Australia.

What did you do at work?

I was employed by Spowers to carry out the

design and documentation of construction

projects and also give support with the

subsequent project administration.

What experience did you gain?

At Spowers I gained a huge amount of

experience. This ranged from a greater

awareness of the processes involved in the

construction industry to developing my team

working abilities and interaction with other

members of the project team.

What problems did you encounter and

how did you resolve them?

The only real problems were getting the

relevant visa and travel arrangements.

How did your placement help you with

your studies?

Most importantly it increased my motivation

to further my studies in the field of

architectural technology. I also learnt new

skills relating to my future studies.

How do you think your placement will

help you find employment when you

graduate?

Architecture is a discipline that requires

scope

and

the

ability

to

adapt

in

any environment. Hopefully employers will

recognise this as a quality I have gained from

spending six months overseas.

What was the best thing about your

placement?

Without doubt the beaches. Joking. Being

able to travel to the other side of the world

and experience a completely different culture

and become a productive member of a

friendly, hard working team involved with

large construction projects was probably the

best thing about the placement.

Any regrets about having undertaken a

placement?

None whatsoever.

CONSTRUCTION

MANAGEMENT

Which course are you enrolled upon?

Construction Management BSc (Hons).

Why did you choose to undertake a

period of industrial placement?

I craved for a more

stable structure

compared to my usual university week. I felt

that I had to find another challenge rather

than the week in - week out routine of

working through pages of information in

order to make coursework and examination

deadlines.

I am a practically minded person and hoped

that by going on placement I could satisfy

my desire to actually see tasks being

undertaken, rather than reading about these

procedures.

There was also the lure of a little cash in my

pocket, rather than the usual struggle that

student life brings with it.

How did your placement satisfy these

objectives?

Comprehensively.

The

working

week

brought with it a very early start and a tea

time finish, which, in the beginning was a bit

of a shock to the system. Start/Finish times

was fairly relaxed as you are put into a very

mature environment and treated and trusted

completely as an equal, among some very

powerful figures, which drives you to give

maximum effort so as not to let anyone

down.

Through doing this, showing enthusiasm

and that I could be trusted, increased

responsibility is slowly mounted upon you

leading to the opportunity of seeing first

hand some of the things that I had spent the

last three years reading about.

The company also have a pay structure for

placement students which, as far I know,

was more generous than most.

How did you find your placement?

There was no advertisement for my position.

I knew a RGU former student who had

recently been moved into Head Office for

some experience who suggested to the

Commercial Manager I would be interested

in placement. I talked with him on the

telephone a few times and managed to get an

interview. From there it’s about selling

yourself, and he agreed to create a position

for me after the interview.

Where did you work?

Balfour Beatty Construction Head Office in

Edinburgh.

What did you do at work?

A variety of tasks from chasing up Sub-

Contractors, Market testing, site visits, Sub-

Comparisons,

controlling

work

package

prices, meeting with contractors, etc.

Although along with these, I also had to

accept the usual brain numbing tasks of

photocopying, keeping drawing registers and

project addendums.

What experience did you gain?

Broadly, the most useful experience I gained

was from witnessing how tight the margins

are that main contractors work to, and also

the methods and organisation that must be

used to keep ahead of the rivals in this

market.

Working in an organisation like this provides

the chance to see how the hierarchy within

the company works and interacts which is

very interesting.

I basically could link the experience I gained

to most of the topics that were studied at

RGU and then some.

I have found that you don't actually realise

how much you are learning on placement

until you take a step back from work and

have to talk about it.

What problems did you encounter and

how did you resolve them?

I

really

didn't

experience

any

major

problems.

The biggest I can think of was the times

where I felt I was ready to tackle some more

demanding responsibilities which was usually

resolved by approaching my Line Manager.

How did your placement help you with

your studies?

It has provided me with endless information

and contacts for my dissertation along with

teaching the benefits of keeping regular

schedule and putting in more than what is

just required.

How do you think your placement will

help you find employment when you

graduate?

The company are sponsoring me through

this year and will make an offer to me in

April 2004 pending my success this year.

What was the best thing about your

placement?

The sense of achievement and satisfaction

you get from putting in a lot of effort in

achieving set goals.

Having some cash was also very nice.

Any regrets about having undertaken

placement?

None whatsoever.

QUANTITY

SURVEYING

Which course are you enrolled upon?

Quantity Surveying.

Why did you choose to undertake a

period of industrial placement?

To gain experience in my chosen field of

study and to have a change from normal

university

life,

lectures,

tutorial

etc.

How did your placement satisfy these

objectives?

Very well, I gained valuable experience and

enjoyed myself.

How did you acquire your placement?

My uncle holds a position with Davis

Langdon and Seah in Singapore and offered

me

a

place

in

the

office.

Where did you work?

Singapore.

What did you do at work?

A wide variety of QS tasks. Bill

measurement and production, cost planning,

variation valuation, interim payments and

quality assurance.

What experience did you gain?

Experience in a variety of day to day QS

tasks.

What problems did you encounter and

how did you resolve them?

No real problems came up. I could always

find another member of my build team to

seek

assistance

or

ask

questions.

How did your placement help you with

your studies?

It gave me a chance to put theory into

practice which was a very useful thing.

How do you think your placement will

help you find employment when you

graduate?

I hope that a placement with DLS will help

me secure a graduate position in Glasgow or

Edinburgh with DLE. Although I would like

to work in Singapore when I have more

experience.

What was the best thing about your

placement?

Meeting people from all over the world,

both through business and leisure, that I

would not otherwise have met.

Any regrets about having undertaken

placement?

None really, except I would like to have

stayed longer!!

QUANTITY

SURVEYING

Which course are you enrolled upon?

Quantity Surveying

Why did you choose to undertake a

period of industrial placement?

Before I started studying at RGU I worked

with a firm of quantity surveyors in Perth

and I really enjoyed that experience. I also

thought it would be good to gain more

practical experience, and make some new

contacts in industry.

How did your placement satisfy these

objectives?

My placement satisfied these fully and more

and I also made some good friends in the

process.

How did you acquire your placement?

Through an e-mail circulated by my tutor.

Where did you work?

Thomas and Adamson in Edinburgh.

What did you do at work?

During my time there I was involved in both

pre and post contract work and experienced

many different professional techniques and

processes. I had learned many of these at

university .I was involved with projects

ranging in value from £100,000 to over £100

million

adopting

a

wide

range

of

procurement

methods.

My

time

in

Edinburgh gave me the opportunity to

become involved in projects teams, lone

working and being invited to group meetings

and team briefings. All of this broadened my

knowledge and gave me the feeling of being

involved as well as contributing to the

success of the many projects that I was

involved with.

What experience did you gain?

I gained all sorts of experience due to all the

different

situations

I

was

exposed

to

everything from the pressure to meet

deadlines to the procedures to be adopted at

site meetings.

What problems did you encounter and

how did you resolve them?

There were a couple of new software

programmes that the company used that I

was not familiar with. This was overcome by

sitting

down

with

one

of

the

senior

surveyors who showed me how to use these

programmes.

How did your placement help you with

your studies?

Since I have started back I feel I am

approaching my studies in a more organised

manner. The experience I have gained by

going on placement is helping me resolve

problems in a more practical manner.

How do you think your placement will

help you find employment when you

graduate?

Hopefully I will be taken on at the company

where I undertook my placement, but if that

is not the case I would feel more confident

about working in the industry due to the

experiences gained over the last seven

months.

What was the best thing about your

placement?

Making new friends and the experience I

gained.

Any regrets about having undertaken

placement?

No.