• Student Experience 2

► Student Experience 2

Michael Beavon, Casual Control Room Operator, GRG Public Resources, Stafford

Meet Michael Beavon, he’s 23 years old and in his final year on the Computing Science award at Staffordshire University. After returning from his placement in Belgium last summer, Michael explains: “I needed to find some local part time work, primarily to give me some extra cash. I already had some call centre work experience from a major distribution company in Stafford, and thought getting some office based experience would help me to get used to this environment for my future career.

I visited the Careers Centre and it was suggested that I look at the part time jobs on JobZone, applied for the control room operator, was interviewed and taken on”.

GRG Public Resources is part of the Grass Roots Group PLC, and has been listed by the Times as one of the top 50 companies “best to work for”. The company manages schemes for the emergency services alongside its sister company Recovery Management Services.

MichaeI says “it is important to have some flexibility so that your job can fit around your studies and GRG have been great in providing this opportunity for me – I work shifts on a casual basis and get paid £7.20 per hour. I get experience talking to people who work for the police and commercial companies. We provide services for police forces across the country, who require assistance with the vehicles involved; so for example when an accident happens on the motorway, the Police contact us to arrange for vehicles to be towed away, and we have to ensure that the recovery services companies know the exact location of the vehicle – we use mapping software and programmes to help with this. My communication and interpersonal skills have improved as have my problem solving skills. I have also been able to gain experience of working with a small team, and we do have to remain calm whilst helping people on the road – I think all of these skills and experience will be useful to me in a future permanent job”.

Jay Eames, (pictured below on left with Michael) Control Room Manager, and also former Staffordshire IT graduate, adds “We have a long history of employing students from Staffordshire University here at GRG Public Resources. Our casual scheme is designed to be flexible to both the employee and the company, which is great for the students to fit around their studies, and being that we work on a 24/7/365 basis, the available hours are greatly increased against other employment such as office administration or bar work. We have several staff members now who began with us as casuals while studying at the University, and decided to stay on and become full time members of staff once they had graduated.

Being situated directly behind the Stafford campus is an ideal location for students as well, as they can easily walk to work after lectures if required, and particularly well suited for those who are in Halls of Residence. From a company point of view, the students are already computer literate and familiar with many of our systems, so our training costs are kept to a minimum.

Michael has fitted in well with the staff here and has proved, as many previous students have, to be hard working, flexible and an asset to himself and the University.”

©Staffordshire University, written by Kathy England, January 2011