Work Experience Students complete their two weeks at Turners...

Two students from Bottisham Village College, Shane Covill and Jack Collier completed their two weeks Work experience with Turners in July.

We decided to take a less conventional approach to work experience in that each students had time planned within each business area as opposed to tasks in just one or two.

The objectives being for each to experience as many different operations within Turners and realise first-hand what working within each would be like. It would also demonstrate the different types of jobs and career opportunities available in such a large business as Turners.

Their two weeks started by meeting Paul Day, Managing Director who gave them a quick insight to the world of an MD and the Turners business as a whole.

This was then followed by a two week programme ranging from The Traffic office through Accounts, Health and Safety, The Cold Store, Compliance, PPL (Packaging Operation), Fuel Management, Human Resources, ADR, IT and Customer Management.

Feedback sessions and specific tasks were set for each Student. We challenged each to review our website to give a young person's perspective on its ease of use, quality of information and overall appearance. Then and in preparation for their meeting with Steven Cleary, Commercial Manager, an investigation into Tate & Lyle, one of the UK's leading sugar manufactures, who Turners are contracted to.

The photo shows Shane and Jack along with Claire Johnston, Work Experience Coordinator for Bottisham Village College.

At the end of their two weeks we received some great feedback from each Student. Their initial impression of Turners was that of a small transport business but both were amazed at its size and all the different operational areas involved in delivery in transport and Logistical solutions.

The departments that interested them the most ranged from Accounts “seeing how they handled such large sums of money" to the Cold Store “it was bigger and colder than expected and the sheer volume of pallets stored is impressive".

An unexpected bonus was to see the student’s personal confidence grow through their two weeks experience. They realised that the adult working world was not as scary as first thought but one that both embraced.

The feedback from each department was very positive regarding their conduct and attitude both Jack and Shane demonstrated during their stay and we are delighted that they found their two weeks experience so rewarding.

For Turners this is part of the continued development working in partnership with local Secondary and Sixth Form College, coordinating with CAP (Cambridgeshire Area Plan) with a number of projects planned for the remainder of 2015.

Stephen Blackmore – Business Development.

Rachel Maclaren – Head of Human Resources

Telephone: 01638 720335

www.turners-distribution.com