The skills I have developed over the last 12 months have been invaluable

Where was your placement and what did it involve?

I worked as an Environmental and Sustainability Intern at Siemens PLC, a multinational technology company. My role involved driving social and environmental sustainability in their ‘Smart Infrastructure’ supply chain. 

I was specifically involved in:

• upskilling the procurement team, to improve their knowledge, awareness, and confidence in talking to suppliers about sustainability topics.
• working directly with key and strategic suppliers to increase the sustainability of their businesses.
• gaining business case sign off and implementing a carbon calculator tool to provide small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a platform to easily calculate the carbon emissions of their company.
• engaging directly with internal sustainability stakeholders to understand the sustainability challenges, and work collaboratively with them to identify supply chain sustainability initiatives.

What skills do you feel that you gained from your placement?

I cannot recommend completing a placement year enough. The skills I have developed over the last 12 months have been invaluable and I have met so many new, interesting people and connections.

I also now feel confident in communicating with others and feel much more comfortable giving presentations and workshops!

It has been really interesting to see how environmental and social challenges facing the planet and society materialise in a real work environment. Organisations such as Siemens are huge contributors to these challenges, and they therefore have a significant responsibility to take measures to tackle this and improve sustainability within their company.

It was very rewarding to work in a role where I felt I was making a genuine positive contribution.

What advice would you give to students who are thinking about doing a placement?

I understand that the logistics of doing a placement year can seem daunting. My role was hybrid and very flexible. I lived at home, and the commute was about 35 minutes - but as I was only going into the office twice a week, this worked out well.

It is a good idea to get to know other people doing / considering placement years (encourage your friends to do one too!) so you can think about living together in your final year.

My advice to anyone looking for a placement role would be to keep an open mind, apply to lots of different types of roles and don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.

I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do! I personally found my placement role on a public careers website (Indeed), but I applied to lots that I found on CareersConnect too.