We recently caught up with Fraser, a summer intern at Frazer-Nash Consultancy, to hear about his experience and get some top tips for Bright Network members to follow in his footsteps.
Name: Fraser Robertson
Current Role: Summer Intern
University and Degree: Maths & Theoretical Physics
Explain your role at Frazer Nash and an overview of your key responsibilities
During my summer internship, I worked as a Nuclear Engineer in the EDF TSA Safety & Process Engineering team.
For my team, I co-authored nuclear safety technical reports and spent time planning my team’s strategy, as we considered expanding our process engineering capability. In addition to this work, I was involved with a wide range of projects and worked with multiple different teams. A lot of my placement was spent on a feasibility study for the design of a novel green ammonia plant, as we aimed to receive funding to build a demonstration plant; this involved delivering various work packages, including the commercialisation roadmap and final report. Other work included data management for nuclear plant systems, campaigning for interesting new work and I also gained some initial experience with machine learning.
My responsibilities varied throughout the placement, but mainly consisted of effectively managing deadlines, carrying out technical work/research, and presenting findings to a high-quality standard in an understandable way.
What appealed to you about joining the team at Frazer Nash?
I am a physics and maths student, and over recent years, had been considering engineering as a career path - with particular interest in nuclear. I applied for the summer internship at Frazer-Nash as they are very open to hiring those who study non-engineering subjects, and was glad to find that they are fully supportive in helping you to become chartered, whether that be as a mathematician, physicist, or engineer. Their company-wide values are well-aligned with mine, and upon joining I found that these are truly applied throughout the entire company.
What have you enjoyed the most about your role since starting?
I have loved the fact that the placement is really what you make of it. There is so much flexibility with what work you can pick up, and everyone in the company is supportive of you trying out new things. The atmosphere in the office is great, everyone is really nice and you can genuinely approach anyone for a chat, no matter how senior they are in the company. One of Frazer-Nash’s values is that they do work that matters, and I have found that to be the case over my placement, there is such a diverse range of interesting work available to get involved with. Another great thing has been that you are treated just like anyone else that works here, I was given real responsibilities from the get-go and received support when I needed it. The work-life balance at Frazer-Nash is great too, the managers are really flexible and would be concerned for you if you were doing extra hours!
How would you describe the intern community at Frazer Nash?
In the Glasgow office there is loads of stuff going on outside of work, including a football tournament, climbing, badminton, and pub quizzes after work. The graduates are really welcoming of the interns, and everyone is included. Everyone in the Glasgow office is really active and there is always new stuff going on, we did a ninja warrior course after work one day, which was fun. There was also an insight and discovery day for all interns across the UK, which was great to meet everyone from other offices and gave a good sense of the wider intern community.
For members considering applying to Frazer Nash this year, what would your top 3 pieces of advice be for the application/interview process?
Sometimes it is easier said than done, but be yourself! Whoever is interviewing you is likely to be really nice, and whilst they are considering things like your technical ability, they also want to see if they would enjoy working with you day to day.
Try and include any extra-curricular projects you have worked on, no matter how big or small. One of the reasons I was successful was that I talked about a small business venture I worked on during COVID, even though it was completely unsuccessful! Showing that you are proactive and motivated is a great advantage for the interview process.
Before your interview, have a think about what you would like to get out of the placement. Showing that you have individual goals, both short and long term, makes you more appealing to hire.