School for Cross-faculty Studies Hosts Successful Work Placement Fair 2025

Who are Ocean Winds and what made you choose them for your placement?

Ocean Winds are an Edinburgh-based offshore wind developer and operator. I picked them for my Work Placement not only to gain some valuable corporate experience for my CV, but because I believed them to be a good fit and relevant sector for a GSD generalist like myself.

What were some of your responsibilities?

My role covered stakeholder management, external affairs and communications. Therefore, some of my responsibilities included supporting industry and company-lead events, drafting social media posts and website items, managing invoices, and liaising with company partners.

What skills did you develop from your work placement?

The work placement at Ocean Winds helped me develop both my written and spoken communication skills, as well as improving my problem-solving abilities and capability to work within a professional team. It also helped build an awareness of the important commercial considerations that even sustainability-advancing businesses must follow to succeed in the modern world. Additionally, my Microsoft Excel skills have also come a long way too!

Who are Samaritan’s Purse International and what made you choose them for your placement?

Samaritan’s Purse International are a Christian disaster relief organisation who provide both spiritual and physical aid to people struggling from the impact of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and famine across the globe.

I chose to do a work placement at Samaritan’s Purse International as it provided an incredible opportunity to perform vital humanitarian work abroad, which I did in both Ethiopia and the DR Congo. I am very interested in African development as a subject, so doing this placement allowed me to explore that interest further and get a feel for how it would work as a potential career path.

What were some of your responsibilities?

My role encompassed both operations and logistics administrative duties as well as work on international projects. For the first 4-5 months of my placement, I served the Operation Christmas Child department based in Coventry before spending 3 months in the DR Congo and 3 weeks in Ethiopia offering operations support. In summary, some of the things I would be doing included procurement, organising supplies and events logistics, and base management for Samaritan’s Purse International’s various developmental programmes and initiatives.

What skills did you develop from your work placement?

Working in a small, overstretched team helped me learn to appreciate the importance of shared responsibility and open communication under pressure. It also taught me how to be more flexible and adaptable through facing constant shifting demands and urgent deadlines. I also gained invaluable communication and interpersonal skills, as working in multiple multilingual environments required cultural sensitivity and linguistic adaptability.

Who are HSBC and what made you choose them for your placement?

HSBC are a British universal bank and financial services group. Their main headquarters are based in London; however they have business links to East Asia, which is how I ended up completing a 6-month internship in Hong Kong.

I decided to pursue the internship programme at HSBC as I am passionate about raising awareness of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors within investing and corporate decision-making, and wished to gain practical experience across multiple sectors of finance to understand how these considerations can be integrated into various industries.

What were some of your responsibilities?

My responsibilities at HSBC Hong Kong included compiling and forecasting sustainable finance transactions, presenting product offerings to frontline staff, coordinating and attending sustainability conferences, checking ESG documentation for legal and compliance and assisting with market research.

What skills did you develop from your work placement?

My placement helped me improve my communication skills within the corporate environment. I learned how to effectively collaborate with teams from a range of professional and cultural backgrounds, as well as developing my data analysis skills.

Who are GSK and what made you choose them for your placement?

GSK are a pharmaceutical company that mainly specialise in developing vaccines, inhalers and HIV treatments. They are the UK’s 7^th largest registered company and have 245 offices globally.

I chose to do a work placement at GSK as not only did the company’s mission align with my values, but I realised that it would help me uncover the kind of work I would like to do once I am ready to pursue a career.

What were some of your responsibilities?

As the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) lead for Real Estate AI initiatives, I assisted with the 2030 Worldwide Real Estate & Facilities (WREF) Sustainability Targets by managing the build on a waste tracker Power App, which lead on to further develop a Power BI sustainability dashboard. I also created monthly insight reports on the global headquarters, analysing desk and meeting room usage data to help shape a better workplace environment for staff.

What skills did you develop from your work placement?

I gained valuable project management and public speaking skills from my work placement, which I continue to develop as I continue to work for GMK part time. My data analytics skills also improved, and I now have a much firmer grasp of how to use software such as Power BI, Metrikus and Microsoft Excel.

The School extends its thanks to all attending staff and students, in addition to the students who contributed to the energy and success of the day. You can find out more about the employability services offered by SCFS here.