Sam and Christian complete their work experience at Turners...

Two year 10 students, Sam and Christian completed their two week work experience business program at Turners in July.

Both from Bottisham Village College, they followed a similar path to previous students. Their two weeks were spent experiencing the many aspects of a logistics business, to appreciate the varied career opportunities and scope of roles available in Turners.

Their two weeks started with an overview of the business, its history and a tour of the 48 acre site at Exning. Both were introduced to the Managing Director, Paul Day, who welcomed them to Turners and gave a quick insight into his role in the business.

Structured plans were put in place by Operational Managers so the time spent in each department was interesting and challenging for the students. These included: Traffic and Planning. Storage and Warehousing. Fuel Management. The Driver Safety program. Health and Safety. Compliance. Human Resources. Accounts. IT. PPL (our packaging operation). ADR – Turners Fuel logistics.

Their time spent with Shaun Leonard, Tesco Account Manager, included attending customer meetings with Tesco personnel which provided a further dynamic on the importance of Customer relationships within a business partnership.

We took the opportunity for both to spend time within our ‘Turners Parks Group’. Here they experienced a very different business in the Residential Park Home industry. No student work experience program at Turners would be complete without the experience of an actual delivery in a 44 tonne truck and trailer combination. This took place in our adapted training vehicle.

The photo shows Christian and Sam along with Claire Johnson, Work Experience Coordinator for Bottisham Village College outside Turners headquarters at Exning.

We received some great feedback from Sam and Christian at the end of their two weeks.

They both singled out IT as their favourite area and recognised the important role it plays within the business.

On the staff –

“everyone looked like they wanted to be there and the atmosphere created was great”

On Turners –

“we thought it was just a delivery Company now we know Turners is so much more”

On how the two weeks experience has helped them –

“I have realised work isn’t always fun, however always try and enjoy yourself and turn up to work in a positive mood, better for you and everyone else”

“It has helped improve my confidence”

The feedback from each department was equally positive with both students getting involved and lapping up the learning experience and environment they worked within. Their attendance, timekeeping and general positive attitude were a credit to them both.

For Turners this is part of the continued partnership with ‘Form the Future’ and a number of colleges within Cambridgeshire to give students an insight into working life and most importantly how they need to prepare for the transition from college life to work in whatever industry they choose.

Stephen Blackmore

Rachel Maclaren – Head of Human Resources.