Internship? Just do it!

Shannon Ferries had a summer internship which has helped her both professionally and personally. Here, she talks about the impact it has had on her.

I heard about the internship opportunity at Elemental Energies through a family friend. She mentioned that they were looking at exploring the option of having a summer intern in preparation for their graduate scheme launching in 2025. I researched about the company and it aligned perfectly with my interests - I had always wanted to learn about renewables and how Aberdeen companies are planning to assist in the energy transition. The idea of interning at a company which is rapidly expanding also appealed to me, as I have strong connections with consultancy. So, choosing to intern with Elemental Energies was a no brainer for me. 

During my time at Elemental, I was given the main role in coordinating bid proposals. This entailed highlighting important aspects within Invitations to Tender from companies, raising and clarifying these important aspects at a kick-off meeting, and then placing all necessary information for each proposal in their respective bid documents before sending them off. The aim is to send the best bid document possible to show why Elemental Energies would be the perfect company to carry out the work. I loved doing this role as I learned a lot about the different projects that are ongoing. It also dramatically built my time management and organisation skills, two things you couldn’t do this role without. 

Another project I was involved with was creating a revamped feedback mechanism which would allow feedback to be gathered from clients and suppliers and analysed by Elemental to help improve any processes necessary. This project gave me insight into the many factors that are to be considered if wanting to gather feedback, such as a seamless process which doesn’t require a lot of effort on the receiver’s part, and finding the most efficient ways to gather and analyse data from the forms. 

A further exciting project I worked on was creating a presentation on the upcoming 2030 Net Zero regulations and the impact they’re likely to have on the company and industry as a whole. This was very interesting work, which allowed me to build my knowledge on the proposed methods for decommissioning the North Sea, the expected bottlenecks that may arise from this, and any other threats to the process that exist. It was highly interesting to look at the issue from a policy standpoint, and it certainly opened my eyes to just how difficult the energy transition may be. 

I think it would be easier to list things I didn’t learn from the internship to be honest! I have learned so much over the three months, it would be difficult to name everything. However, I would say that the most important thing I learned was the importance of the North Sea and investment into it for a smooth energy transition and to keep the economy stable. It’s easy to say from an outsider’s perspective that we should decommission all oil rigs to stop crude oil extraction and pollution. However, something I learned that I don’t think is often considered is that these oil rigs will power the energy transition, and processes where renewables are not yet an option, such as aviation, in the years to come and disinvesting in them would lead to merely sourcing oil from abroad. Investment in the North Sea is very important for the UK economy. 

The internship at Elemental Energies has given me a drive to learn more about the environment and the difficulties in diplomatically making decisions in this area. Therefore, going forward into my final year I have chosen subjects that align with these interests, and I aim to continue learning more about the industry in the coming year, perhaps building some new perspectives on the subject for when I graduate. More generally, however, the internship has helped with my professionalism and has helped me to acclimatise to a full-time working week, something I also aim to carry with me into my final year. 

My best piece of advice I would give to someone thinking about an internship is just do it. Even if you get an internship in an industry you’re not entirely clued up on or not sure you want to get into, you will build knowledge and skills you wouldn’t have if you didn’t take the opportunity. Not every internship needs to be at a big corporate company that everyone else is applying to. I genuinely couldn’t have had a more enjoyable and immersive internship experience than I did being at a specialist firm that gave me more opportunities to learn than perhaps a big corporate would have. 

About Shannon Ferries

Shannon Ferries is a 4th year BA(Hons) Economics and Business Law student.