Divya was a finalist at the 2014 Undergraduate of the Year Awards! She only applied for the practice and she now has an internship with EON!

I had just finished my winter exams and to be honest, all I could think about was relaxing with my friends and leaving my brain to rest for a couple of days. The deadline for the Undergraduate of the Year Awards was imminent and after debating with myself whether I should bother entering the competition, should I? Should I not? I took the plunge and started applying. At the end of the day, the worst thing that could happen was to be immediately rejected and even then it would be a good practice.

So I started the application, mentally exhausted from exams and not knowing what to expect. The thought of becoming Undergraduate of the Year sounded so unattainable and prestigious, I merely saw this as a practice run. The application process involved answering 3 questions about your thoughts on energy and a number of online tests. I have to say that the online test section was long but also quite entertaining, so don’t give up!

After submitting my application, I was informed I had passed the first stage of the process and would be attending an assessment centre at E.ON's Engineering Academy close to Nottingham soon after that. Both excitement and nervousness took over me, on one hand I was jumping up and down for reaching this far and to have the chance to have a “real-life” interview at one of the leading energy companies in the world, but also the thought of attending the assessment centre with all the other candidates was nerve wrecking. I kept reminding myself that this was an INCREDIBLE opportunity, a real life interview, so the more practise the better.

The assessment consisted of 3 tasks including a self-presentation, a role play and an evaluation task. I was nervous for my presentation but my interviewers made it as relaxed as possible.  The day was tough but I was really lucky to spend it with the other candidates which weren't as scary as I'd imagined. There was no competitive tension whatsoever but instead there were a lot of good vibes and lots of cooling tower selfies.

After that, everything was a win-win, I'd gained experience from a 7 hour assessment centre with some of the brightest students in the country and I would be receiving feedback from my interviewers. So even if I didn't continue to the final, that alone was already a great achievement.

My surprise exploded when I got the very much awaited telephone call informing me that I had made it to the final 10 candidates and received my invitation to a lunch event at Canary Wharf with Sir Trevor McDonald! The day was incredible, the location, the atmosphere, the food. It was a moment to remember in every way. I met some of the other E.ON managers and shared a great lunch with them (as well as many pictures!) After our three course meal, the winner was announced. Unfortunately I didn’t win the competition, but what was to come made up for any disappointment.

I left that day with a big smile on my face and a huge sense of accomplishment. All of this was happening because I took a couple of hours back in January to complete the application, it would have been so easy to ignore, but I didn’t and there I was in the middle of Canary Wharf with an amazing experience behind my back.

The most important thing I'll take with me from this event is to believe in myself, you are the only one standing on the way of your dreams so just take a couple minutes and apply, because this competition can give you a lot of great surprises.

Through this competition I am now going to start an internship with E.ON, in the performance team which is exactly what I wanted to do! This competition has brought me a step closer to my professional dreams in the energy industry, something I couldn't have even imagined when I shyly applied thinking I wouldn't even pass the first stage.

So if you are reading this, if not you, then who is going to be the next Engineering Undergraduate Of The Year?

Divya Hariramani, Engineering Undergraduate of the Year Award Finalist

Mechanical Engineering, University of Nottingham

As Divya says, what have you got to lose! Applications are open now for the Engineering Undergraduate of the Year!

One of the 2014 winners of the Undergraduate of the Year Awards tells why YOU should enter for 2015!

Last year I won the Engineering Undergraduate of the Year Award sponsored by EON!

If you are reading this, you are probably thinking of applying yourself and I definitely encourage you to do so! I applied pretty much on a whim, I received and email and thought I might as well have a shot!

The initial stage of the application is some situational online tests, there a quite  a few of these, so persevere and don’t leave them until the last minute as you might run out of time!

If you are lucky enough to get through, the next round is an assessment day at the EON training facility. This is an interesting day, you will meet some of the other candidates and EON employees. The other candidates were great company, really interesting to talk to and makes the day less daunting! The assessment is a good experience, it includes a number of different tasks, some of which 
I found harder than others.

If you attend the assessment day, you then have a good chance of going to the awards ceremony, as the final top ten candidates are all invited. It’s a very impressive venue, Canary Wharf’s East Wintergarden, with an impressive host, Sir Trevor MacDonald! You are very well looked after at the ceremony, great food and conversation and it is a great opportunity to meet a huge range of students.

So go for it, apply, and who knows, maybe you will be the next Engineering Undergraduate of the Year for 2015!

Alan Middup, MEng Mechanial Engineering, University of Sheffield

Engineering Undergraduate of the Year Award, winner

Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Bryony Smith, this year's winner of the Engineering Undergraduate of the Year award writes for us about her experience and her first week at her placement with E.on. Her life sounds very exciting, this should be very motivating for those considering entering next year. 

It’s a Sunday evening and already I can’t wait for a lie in. My uni friends still have another month off, whilst I’ve got over a year of work before I head back north for three more years of study. And I think it’s brilliant.

It’s been nearly 5 months since Michael Portillo announced I had won the prize of 48 weeks’ work with E.on (And of course the title “Engineering Undergraduate of the Year” and a week’s trip to the Netherlands-more on that later).  It slightly worries me that a placement year should be considered a prize for the lucky few; but life is what you make of it. If you don’t apply for jobs I can almost guarantee you won’t get any offers.  You can only benefit for applying for schemes like these.  I applied having had a great Year In Industry (YINI) at National Grid, who are now kindly sponsoring me, and some of my fellow YINIs through our engineering degrees.

But, back to the present. I’ve completed my 8 weeks at National Grid (as part of my sponsorship contract) and my first week at E.on. I’m not convinced it was a typical week. Straight after an intense first day of inductions and project briefing, we travelled in preparation for a “community day” where the wider team all come together; in this case to build an outside garden and activity area for a special needs college.  This involved somewhat more than originally thought and so our team meeting scheduled for the next day was transformed into an informal update/ plumbing session. This was a great introduction to a normally widely dispersed team, with lots of banter and an excellent opportunity to learn how everyone worked together (or not!).  Thursday was back to the office for a crash course on my project for the next few months (a warning/advice system to manage the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants more effectively). Friday was an early start for the long journey to Liverpool (4hrs leaving at 0645) to look at the current system, meet my project predecessor and hear from plant staff what they really wanted the system to do.

In a week’s time, I’m off to Benelux in Rotterdam, to see the power plant and city heating scheme (part of the prize) and after that who knows? Uni life is never far away.  A year of touring my friends’ unis, with money in my pocket and no coursework to worry about sounds pretty good, as do the job offers (particularly as my school friends are now 3^rd years and freaking out over job applications). Some people complain I’m lucky, but the future is what you make of it and opportunities can be created. After all the saying goes “the more I practise, the luckier I get” so what’s stopping you? 

If you think you have what it takes pre-register here and if you pre-register before the applications open on Monday 1 October you will also be entered into a prize draw to win a £25 Itunes gift card.