Placement Perspective
Our student intern, Sam, gives us his thoughts on his year in industry:
“I am studying International Business at Robert Gordon University, and this is my placement year here at prosource.it – the third year of my four year course.
I’ve benefited from different perspectives during each year of my course. During my second year I studied at Humber College in Toronto alongside Canadian and other international students. I found they took a more rigid, facts-based approach to study in Canada whereas at RGU there is more of a focus on interpreting and applying what you’ve learned.
This year is a different perspective again as I have worked in various areas of prosource’s business. I began my placement year at an energy client working in the deployment team as a scheduler for three months, then joined the team at the Aberdeen hub. Understanding the technical aspects of a deployment project was a learning curve as I had to be able to answer the business users’ questions and provide reassurance for them in order to get them booked in. Something else I hadn’t appreciated was the importance of understanding a client’s business activities and culture, you have to be able to use their terms and many acronyms!
The Hub is a much smaller environment and there is a close team feel to it. Everyone knows each other and says hi in the kitchen! I have primarily been working with the HR team, preparing documentation for presenting prosource people to our clients. I’ve also been involved in gathering information about and filing technical certifications that our people have achieved, making it easier to shortlist people for roles.
Working with the HR team has been fantastic. They are really busy so assisting with their workload has a positive impact. Before I came here, I had always thought HR were the people who showed up when you were in trouble at work, but because prosource are a people business, HR activities at prosource are really varied. They get involved in lots of different aspects of operations. I had never considered getting into HR after university, but now it’s an option I could pursue.
Before I finish my time at prosource, I need to submit a portfolio assigment explaining what I’ve done over my year in industry and what I’ve learned, that’s coming closer all the time so I will need to get on with it! After that, my fourth year awaits and writing my dissertation.”
