Shell work experience (9th July- 20th July)

I got the chance to do 2 weeks work experience at Shell petroleum company. I went into the building on the first day expecting to be sorting out spreadsheets and spending the whole day sitting at a desk but I was very mistaken.

The building has 25 floors and it may not seem good looking on the outside but the inside is really beautiful.

This is the desk I spent two weeks at. I really enjoyed working at Shell it made me realise that investment banking is not the only option out there and I honestly wouldn't mind working in any department in a corporate firm. During the two weeks I got to take part in a photography project with the other seven students on work experience where we had to take images of people using internet capable portable devices whilst incorporating the red and yellow theme of Shell. I had an exteremely great time doing that task as I realised it allowed us to get out of the office and interact with each other.

                                        

Another task I was involved in is the phone interviews. I was part of a team that had to interview members of the offer-to-cash global commercial departments in various countries questioning them on their time on a holiday they won after being a winner of a internal competition. We were given a list of questions to ask them and we had to write down the answers given. Some issues we came across are language barriers and people not answering their phones when we rang them. After the phone calls it was then our job to type up the interviews in a question and answer format which was going to be used in the Shell magazine.

I really enjoyed myself and I learnt a lot from it. On the last day we had to present group presentations that we made. Personally, I'm not confident talking in front of others but I think I've improved. I learnt that I should always keep eye contact with the audience, smile when someone else is talking and avoid saying "um" because that was a problem with the whole group. I would love to go back and I think I will just to help out with the next cohort.