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Work Experience Case Study
I have recently completed a six week work placement at Designated Associates. I am currently a student at the University of Chester, studying Management. My career goal is to become a well rounded project manager, to do this I believe there are a number of skills I need to gain from real life business situations. During my time here at Designated I believe I have learnt a number of valuable lessons that I can use for the rest of my career. I was very nervous before arriving here at Designated as I am the type of person who takes a while to settle into new surroundings; however as soon as I arrived I was made to feel immediately welcome. Everyone was friendly and more than willing to answer any questions I had, despite their busy schedule.
With the Directors knowing my goal from when I had my interview here they were very proactive in giving me situations so that I could be tested, and advice was always on hand if I needed it. Although this was not the specific role that Designated were looking for they took my feelings and aspirations on board and were more than happy to make some adjustments to my job description.
Elaine booked me in on a training course here to learn how to use Microsoft Project; I was very excited about this and am now very able in this programme. Not only did this course teach me how to use the software, but the trainer (Derek) was also a very capable project manager himself. Derek showed me how important it is to be organized and to break everything down to the basics. This course helped me a great deal in all the projects I had to do while I was here. My main job while here was to project map the top three projects of each head of department. This gave me some great skills such as interpersonal and organisational skills.
I was given a number of projects to put what I have learned into practice, the most important perhaps I was assigned to, with my fellow co – worker Darren, was to do a room swap. This entailed setting up a training room downstairs, a second training room/board room and an engineer’s work station upstairs. Although it was hard work, it was great to see the plan had worked and the project finished on time. This was evidence that my training had paid off.
All in all my time at Designated Associates has been very productive and I am very pleased with my decision to work here. I want to say a big thank you to Elaine, Debbie and Roy and the rest of the team for giving me the opportunity to do this. It is rare in the modern business world to find a business that are so dedicated and willing to pass knowledge on to helping young people.
