WORK EXPERIENCE FEEDBACK

For my work experience placement in Lower Sixth, I was fortunate enough to spend a week working alongside professional structural and civil engineers at Mott Macdonald During my time there I was given a small Birmingham-based project to work on whilst using the skills of my fellow engineers to aid my progress At the end of the placement, I had to present my findings in different areas to the CEO and some other engineers. My project took me through several areas of civil engineering and was incredibly educational and thorough From areas of geotechnical engineering to the final project management element I always had access to incredible minds who were eager to share their knowledge and experience

Mott Macdonald really opened my eyes to the diversity of the engineering world and how, as a woman in an area of STEM, I would not be as alien as I once thought During my short stay, the company invited me along to their Women in Engineering meeting, here I was exposed to not only the challenges that women face in this line of work but also the incredible work companies are taking to counteract this adversity and make the world of engineering more welcoming every day. Written by Abigail Woodiwiss (Mott MacDonald)

‘Partners&’ is a national insurance broker and I was very fortunate to spend my work experience placement based at their regional office in Lichfield The firm strives to protect all kinds of business from a variety of risks including consumer complaints, physical risks to production and cyber-attacks. This placement provided an introduction into insurance broking and the factors that influence how small to medium enterprises (SMEs) operate I learnt about the full scale of challenges that affect different industries based on the good/services produced by understanding risks they face and how to insure against them. By tailoring insurance products and using technology intelligently, SMEs can build resilience into their risk management programme I was taught about how a seamless approach to risk management gives business owners the confidence to take measurable risks during their operations, that may benefit many stakeholders, as well as improving economic growth.

During my time, I was allocated a variety of tasks including completing risk assessments for a range of businesses, from sandwich production to supplying electricity to the nation. After participating in internal and external networking events, I further learnt about the importance of building personal relationships and networking to identify new business opportunities I ended the week by creating marketing posts for the company’s Instagram account by sharing their core principals, aiming to attract new clients This experience has benefited me in many ways; not only have I gained experience and confidence in the workplace, but I have developed a range of transferrable skills, which I will find useful in future studies past sixth form

Written by Priyanka Bungar (Partners&)