Applications have now opened for our summer placement scheme for those wanting to get hands-on surveying experience and find out what it’s like to work with us. The placements, open to students in their first or second year at university or those about to start a postgraduate course, are paid and can last up to 12 weeks.
We are committed to recruiting the best people and our unrivalled training programmes ensure that every graduate achieves their full potential. We recognise the importance of offering work experience to enable a better understanding of the profession through practical on-the-job work experience.
Brogan Fodczuk, our Early Careers Talent Advisor, said: “Our summer placement scheme enables undergraduates to define their career goals. We hope that our summer placement opportunities will enable those taking part to develop their skills and gain a further understanding of the industry so that they can decide what they want to achieve in their career.”
We spoke to some of our colleagues who had completed a summer placement to learn how they have benefitted from having this first-hand experience. One of our graduate surveyors in our rural property management team, Harriet Cooper, did two 8-week placements during the summer break after her first and second years at university. She said: “Everything from start to finish was so easy making the process seem a lot less daunting. There was always clear communication with the early careers team and through every stage of the process you were quickly made to feel at ease. I immediately got the feeling that Fisher German would be the type of company to create a culture which allows you to thrive and reach your full potential.
“The summer placement allowed me to experience surveying in a practical and realistic setting. Whilst university was great for background understanding, being able to see that being applied to real-life situations helped develop my knowledge of the industry. I was also very fortunate to gain experience in two different areas. Surveying is changing all the time so varied experience allowed me to gain well-rounded exposure to the various work and responsibilities across the different sectors.
“My expectations were exceeded by the summer placement. I expected to simply be shadowing the team whilst I was on placement, but I was given tasks and responsibilities which allowed me to experience, first-hand, the working world of a surveyor. This allowed me to gain practical experience and take ownership of different projects under the watchful, knowledgeable, and supportive eye of experienced surveyors.”
Assistant Surveyor, Jasmine Gregory, completed a summer placement in 2023, based in our infrastructure consultancy team in our Banbury office. She said: “The early careers team were very supportive and helpful throughout the process. When I was interviewed for the summer placement, I felt that Fisher German was somewhere I could be myself. This was confirmed when I started, I loved it!
“I was looking for an opportunity to apply my university learning in a real-world environment and the summer placement allowed me to gain invaluable experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the work that I undertook on my placement and loved the culture of Fisher German. I am looking forward to continuing to grow my knowledge and experience of all things infrastructure as I work towards passing my APC.”
One of our surveyors, William Davies, who works in our infrastructure team within our Banbury office, completed a summer placement before joining us as a graduate in 2020. Will knew of Fisher German as a company but found out about the placement scheme through his university. Will said: “At the time of my placement, my initial interest was in the rural sector, however, after completing my placement I found I was more suited to working within the utilities sector. I certainly found having a summer placement worthwhile to enable me to understand more about the surveying industry, and the broad range of sectors.”
Since joining us, Will has been involved with a wide variety of small and large projects across a broad range of clients and has qualified as a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and is now a Fellow of The Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV).
Abi Hicklin, who also joined us in 2020, took an interest in the work Fisher German surveyors did from an early age when they provided consultancy services for her family farm. Abi was keen to find out more about a career in surveying so decided to complete some work experience and two summer placements with our rural team in Ashby. She then completed a placement year with our utilities team in our Market Harborough office.
She said: “I was able to learn a lot in a relatively short space of time, I got a feel for the experiences and progression that would be available if I were to join. It was a friendly atmosphere and a generally nice place to be with some lovely people. A summer placement gives you an insight into the company, to understand how they work and what the culture is like. It gives you an understanding of what opportunities and support would be available to you as a graduate. It also allows you to experience working in a sector which you may not have thought about working in before and will open your eyes to the many different options available to you.”
Our Early Careers Talent Advisor, Brogan Fodczuk, said “I am looking forward to meeting all this year’s placements. As always, we are dedicated to ensuring their development and progression within the business. Every one of them will be supported to do their best to build their career at Fisher German.”
Applications for the 2024 scheme close at 4 pm on 28 March 2024. Click to apply for our summer placement scheme.
