Engineering Undergraduate of the Year finalist, Jake Tudge writes about his experience of applying for the award as well as what he has been up to.
My dissertation was
submitted last week and the final coursework is due in Thursday; third
year is almost over, bar exams that is! This Friday I will be heading to Canary
Wharf for the Undergraduate of the Year Award ceremony, where I have secured a final top ten place or the Engineering
Undergraduate of the Year award and I will be joining E.ON to find their engineering
winner for 2013! To say I am excited is an understatement; I am expecting a day
of fantastic networking opportunities and the chance to meet our host, Sir
Trevor McDonald!
I’m coming to the end of my
BEng year at the University of the West of England and, during my time at university
I have realised the significant importance of employability. During my summer last year I undertook an
Energy Internship at South West Water, where I worked with the energy and
carbon team to understand new energy source opportunities and how to reduce
carbon emissions. As a result of my internship, my interest in the energy
sector increased significantly and I was also fortunate to win First Prize in
the Rathbones Green Intern of the Year award.
Prior to Christmas I
received an email from TARGETjobs regarding the Undergraduate of the Year award
and I noticed that the engineering award was sponsored by E.ON, one of the
world’s largest investor-owned power and gas companies. The initial application
process included entry of all standard education details, as well as three
questions which required a five hundred word answer for each. I am not going to
lie and say it was easy; it certainly took a lot of research and hard work, but
evidently they were happy with my answers and saw the time invested. This is
an excellent opportunity for me to note a comment from a senior graduate
recruiter from a very large oil company; I was explicitly told that their
application process is often cumbersome and extensive to simply remove those
undergraduates not interested – something important to remember when you feel
like throwing your laptop through the window.
Following my successful
initial application to E.ON through the Undergraduate of the Year website, I
was invited to undertake a series of numerical, verbal reasoning and other
competency tests. Once again, these were extremely time consuming and at times
very challenging, but you just have to remember why you are doing them. I
personally thought I had performed poorly in some of the areas, but to my
surprise I was invited to an assessment centre at E.ON’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar
power station near Nottingham! Before my assessment centre I read through a
number of the TARGETjobs pages on assessment centres and how to deal with them.
If I was to offer some personal advice, it would be to introduce yourself to
everyone you meet immediately and ensure they know your name – when it comes to
the group exercises, it will look favourably when you know everyone’s name and people
ask you for your opinion. Furthermore, just be yourself, remember the company
want you there and be faithful of your abilities. The group exercises and
presentations were inherently straight forward; however, I believe it is the
personal interview where candidates can show their individual aptitude.
My personal interview
consisted of two managers from E.ON and I was expecting a host of technical
questions. However, I was surprised that the majority of questions were based
on my personal attributes – what have I done outside of my studies, have I been
involved in the Students’ Union and what hobbies do I have? It felt more like a
personal conversation, but it showed me the importance of getting involved at university.
Fortunately, I have been involved with the Union through acting as a Student
Representative Department Chair and I have undertaken a variety of
extra-curricular activities, which the interviewers kept asking questions
about. Yes, there were many questions on the future of the energy sector but
E.ON were keen to understand my personal ability, through understanding
examples of experiences and how these would relate to working in their
organisation.
Employability within
engineering is the key to success and there are opportunities for everyone.
During my next blog, I plan to feature opportunities for employability for
those studying an engineering degree. Anyway, I must get back to this final
piece of coursework and this Tuesday I’m off to the Cardiff UCAS fair, where I
will be representing the University of the West of England and speaking to
prospective students. Of course, it’s then the Undergraduate of the Year event
on Friday; I’m extremely excited to meet all those involved and I look forward
to a fantastic day!
If you want to follow Jake on twitter to find out what he's up to and indeed if he is the Engineering Undergraduate of the Year follow him @jaketudge
