Commercial Trainee Review

I work within the commercial team, assisting with procurement, account management and month end financial reporting. In addition to this, I learn from both my senior and managing quantity surveyors to learn more about the role, as well as attending university study block weeks 4x a year and completing the associated coursework.

I would say I have developed my soft skills, such as working as part of a team and collating and presenting large sets of data, as well as my knowledge of the industry just through day-to-day shadowing and working. Although, there is not as much formal training as I had imagined, e.g contractual disputes, etc.

I would say that I enjoy my work generally, but the programme itself can seem quite disjointed, as though the university course and the working role are separate. Sometimes I feel as though other colleagues do not realise I am just a university student who has no prior experience, and thus they sometimes expect too much.

As mentioned above, the programme can sometimes seem disjointed and as such, I would not say it is very well structured. With the university course for instance, it is not entirely clear what modules we will cover, when we will cover them and how/when we will be tested on them.

Support from my employer is quite good, not just financially in terms of salary and benefits, but socially through frequent catch ups with my managing quantity surveyor and occasional catch ups with my mentor. Furthermore, there are a number of graduates within the business who are willing to provide support.

Sheffield Hallam University has put in place a number of support resources to help, whether that be work based learning coaches or focus groups to try and figure out potential issues with the course. I would say that SHU should provide clarity on the course itself though, e.g. how and when we will be assessed.

I am very early in my career and I am currently only approaching my 6th block week, thus the actual benefit of the knowledge and skills gained on this course cannot yet be fully appreciated. Having said that though, I have noticed that I can relate a lot of what I have already learned to the workplace, which has helped in my understanding of ideas/concepts.

Not so much sports or social activities currently (because of the pandemic) but Kier do host occasional online networking forums so that you can get to know other people within the business. I have only been with Kier a short while so I cannot comment on this as I have not seen any since the pandemic started.

No

Whilst I do enjoy what I do, I would not yet recommend a friend to join Kier - they still have a lot to sort out internally, especially with the ongoing redundancies and radical shifts in staff. At the moment, it feels as though early careers come second, given Kier's uncertain position.

If applying to Kier, I would advise that people should ensure that it is certainly the path they want to pursue, as it is quite a large commitment. Moreover, I would warn them that the company is still undergoing changes, and as such it may not be an easy ride to begin with.