Learning from Work Experience
In the last few months JPS has welcomed 5 aspiring engineers to the office to undertake work experience with us. Although this is an opportunity for students to learn and apply theory to practise, we have learnt some valuable lessons from them too.
Back in June, we welcomed Sam Jones to the JPS office for a week of work experience. Sam, 17, from Christleton High School learnt the basics of Sketch up and created an impressive model of the office using his newfound skills.
Owen Williams joined us for a four week placement in July. Owen, 21, from Mold is on course for a first-class MEng Degree from the University of Liverpool and spent his summer putting theory into practice. He was ably assisted by the team and worked on a range of structural projects. Owen said ‘ After only a few weeks, I have already started picking up valuable skills, such as designing structural elements or using new computer software.’
In August, Seb Jones returned to the office following successful work placements with us over the last two summers. He recently completed his first year at Manchester University where he is studying Civil and Structural Engineering.
Most recently, we welcomed A level student James Kettle and GCSE pupil Iestyn Hardy to the JPS office. They used their half term holiday to gain a few days valuable work experience with the JPS team.
They both spent time with our civil and structural teams getting to grips with the basics of Autocad, drainage design and external works as well as an overview of our structural design software. We hope it was a valuable insight for both as they look towards the next steps in their educational paths with a view to entering into careers in Engineering. It was great to hear from James following his time with us, thanking us and saying that it had cemented his goal of choosing structural engineering as a profession.
Although work experience students can take time away from the day to day work of an office, they bring many benefits to a company too. This is what Jonathan, the Company Director has to say about the value of work experience placements. “Welcoming work experience students into the team for a short period of time offers a great opportunity for some of our more junior staff to gain mentoring and management skills. We often ask our junior graduate engineers to set design challenges and guide the work experience candidates through their tasks, and it’s great to see our junior staff sharing their skills and experiences. We find that offering work experience placements also provides an effective route to future recruitment. As a business, we rely upon a steady intake of fresh graduates and apprentices to build the team and to support our organic growth plans. By offering work experience placements, we’re able to build links with aspiring engineers who have demonstrated a passion for a career in engineering consultancy and who may one day join us as permanent members of staff.”
What does your company offer in terms of work experience? Do you have a designated member of staff to look after these students or a package of work for them to complete? What does your company gain from offering work experience? Let us know your thoughts.
