I am Calen, an A level student studying business, economics and geography – I am hoping to pursue higher education or go into the world of work via a degree apprenticeship after I finish school.

When I was applying to work with the Evaluator for my week of work experience, I was completely lost as to what I wanted to do and even as to what ‘data evaluation’ was – however I applied anyways hoping to get some interesting insight into what an office working environment might entail. I was soon introduced into a world of work involving critical thinking, data analysis and collaborating with a team.

I had a whole week plan set out for me so that I could get a full taste of what it would be like to work for a data evaluation company, the tasks which I took on were extensive and varied such as data processing, attending a client presentation, a market research project – and towards the end of the week even being able to do some analysis myself. Overall, I felt like this whole week was packed full of opportunities for me to learn new skills as well as get great exposure to an office environment.

One part of this week which I have particularly enjoyed has been seeing how the companies’ systems have developed and are developing – for example Oracle (A project management/organisation application) is a relatively new way which the company has started to manage its clientele and I just found it very interesting to visually see how a company is run and organised especially whilst its growing.

The most important part of my week by far was how accommodating and friendly all the members of staff were – they were all so helpful no matter how many questions I fired at them and they treated me as if I was a temporary employee working alongside them – which I really appreciated as it allowed me to learn so much more than I could have hoped for – both about the job itself but also about wider career advice and knowledge which has enriched my week massively.

In conclusion – I have had an amazing week which has allowed me to understand what a role in data analysis and consultancy might be like as a future career as well as what a collaborative work environment is like.

• A massive thank you to the team at The Evaluator for having me this week