Railston Blog

We here at Railston were more than happy to open our doors to 14 year old Bethany Kemp from Malmesbury School, who asked us for one weeks work experience. We asked Bathany to write a short summery of her time here with us and here it is:

Name:
Bethany Kemp

Age:
14

School:
Malmesbury School

Career Goal:
I am not really sure yet what I want to do when I leave school, but I know that I want my career to be something that I will enjoy. I really enjoy graphics and that may be something that I would like to do in the future. My work experience has helped me with this as I have really enjoyed the week and especially the graphics side of it.

Why you chose Railston:
I took graphics as a subject in year 10 and found out that it was something that I was interested in and really enjoyed doing; therefore, I decided that for work experience I would experience work in the design and graphic area. I enjoy designing things and coming up with new ideas and so when I found Railston I thought that what they do would be something that I’d really enjoy.

Your experience at Railston:
While at Railston I found out a lot about what they do there and the different departments told me and introduced me to the work they do, however, I mainly worked with the design side and I also did a little bit of graphics which I really enjoyed.

I was really pleased to find out that during the week I would have my own project to work on - this was designing my own ideal bedroom if I was given thousands of pounds, I did this using AutoCAD. This was something that I had never used before and it was great to learn how to use this and see the other software they use here. I also designed a spring and winter logo for Railston which I really enjoyed doing and I was pleased with my final outcome, I did this using Photoshop which I was more familiar with as I use it in my graphic lessons at school. Overall it has been a great week which I have really enjoyed and it has been really good experience. Especially seeing what its like to go to work everyday.

Our Response:

We have greatly enjoyed having Bethany on board. She has been a pleasure to work with and is very interested in learning and developing her knowledge and skills within design. She has proven herself to be more than capable and just to prove it, here is the Spring, summer, autumn and winter logos she created... Flipping good if you ask us!:

We have had more work experience students in the office this week. Again we asked them to write us a little breakdown of their experience with us and this is what we got in response:

My time at Railston….

1st day
The first day was interesting, as I met all the people in accounts I would be working with for the week like, Sarah Clarke, Sue Pharro, Donna Pearce, Kathy Wood and Debra Uzzell, they were all very welcoming and friendly too me. After doing this me and Hristo went to see Rob Wight who told us all about the health and safety of Railston, who also covered all the policies, although it sounds boring Rob found away of making it interesting although we did go off topic a lot. After covering the H&S we filled out an induction form and went for a walk around Railston.
After this we went and saw Mike Slade who told us what the warehouse team did and how the shop fitting business is like a big circle, because of H&S we couldn’t go into the warehouse, as we were running along because of Rob we had to have the warehouse induction as fast as possible.
After doing this we went to Phil Arnett who showed us what design does, I found this bit the most interesting as this was the heart of the shop fitting industry, he showed us some previous sites that Railston have done, he showed us the 3D images on the computer, he also showed us the before and after pictures of his favourite sites.
After all this we went to Kathy wood who showed us what accounting does, I found this important as for the rest of the week I would be working in accounts.
After the inductions, I went back to accounts and was showed what Sarah did on excel she told me to check through all of them and print them all of.
The first day was good and I was excited to go the next day, its weird to think I was nervous at the beginning of the day.

2nd day
I came in and as I walked to my desk everybody said morning, which got me in the right frame of work for the rest of the day, after this I got given all the things I printed of the day before and got told to stick them into a envelope, this is when I learnt what a franking machine did.
After doing this I got given a big bag of expenditure receipts which I stuck in alphabetical order and chronological, although the task was easy it was hard to concentrate with Darren Goss (the office joker) mucking around, but I think he brightened up everyone’s day.
I also did some more stuff on excel and got shown what sage was, this is where I got told to check some pieces of paper to the data base.

3rd day
This is the day when I helped Sue and Deb out a little bit, I helped out Sue by printing of some bits and bobs then using the printer to send all of then to Sues email.
After finishing my work I saw Tracey Hicks she told us about H&R and what roll she had on the company, we then told her the bits and bobs we needed to find out for are school. After this we got some more H&S stuff of off Rob.
After this I did some more sage word.


4th day
Today I have been helping Sue again with the business statements, which I had to check on sage, if they had been paid or not.
After this me and Hristo went to see Alice Rumsey, who showed us what she did; she designs the website and the logo which was interesting.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow, but I’m going to miss everyone here at Railston when I leave :)

This week Railston have had two students in for work experience, we asked them what they thought of the experience and this was their feedback:

“This past week I’ve experienced what it’s like to work in Railston. I’ve spent a little time talking to a member of each department to understand what their role is in the company. Talking to each department has made me realise that without one team; the others can’t run. I have spent most of my week working with the design team. I have done a variety of different tasks; all leading up to my project. I had to choose a room in my house and re-design it. To do this, I had to complete a survey as a ‘home work’ type task. This is to measure the room I chose for the project. I then had to draw up the arrangement of the room and include elevations- using a program called ‘AutoCAD’. Next for the project, I searched for images of the colours, materials, furniture and accessories used in the re-designed room and used them to create a sample board. I really enjoyed doing this, as it’s an ‘arty’ task.

Each member of staff I have worked with has been friendly and when working are all calm; there doesn’t seem to be any tension or stress, which is unusual for work! It just shows how Railston is different from other companies. Everyone works together and communicates well, even though they’re often in different department, which is a must in companies like this.

I have really enjoyed doing my work experience at Railston, nothing but positive feedback! All of the staff are friendly and polite, the building itself is stylish and the way everything runs is effective. Coming here has helped me develop lots of useful skills; for example I feel I am now a lot better at organising my time. I also feel I would be a lot more confident than I have been in the past, with new environments and new people. Throughout this week I’ve felt very comfortable and relaxed. Each night I went home and looked forward to the next day; employees are sociable and at ease; and the workplace is nice and stylish. This experience, even though it’s work has been a very good one and it is a shame to be leaving.”
- Chloe

"My work experience here at Railston has been very good. Although the work may have been boring, such as being in Accounts all day, sorting through mail and doing expenses, I still managed to enjoy myself.

The work may have perhaps not been the most exciting tasks, but I did learn a lot about the company: how it works, the design, the drawings, marketing and the money that’s involved. I learned more of how a company works as a whole and found shop fitting isn’t quite as unexciting as it looks.

I was able to see the designs and plans for one of the shops in Exeter and was lucky enough to go on site to the shop and see how it’s all pulled together to make what the shop is. I learned the importance of the different roles like the accounts, health and safety, sales and most of all the project managers.

Overall, I think I was very lucky to have my work experience at Railston and I actually have had a good time and experience. Thank you Nathan!"
- Sarah