Nurturing future talent

Meet SABIC’s ‘year in industry’ students

SABIC has recently employed five students with ‘year in industry’ placements at their Wilton site in Redcar and North Tees Logistics site. The undergraduate students are currently studying at Teesside and Leeds universities. Their degrees include mechanical engineering, chemical engineering and instrumentation and electrical engineering. The students are matched with a mentor who is an experienced member of the SABIC team and is also experienced in the engineering discipline the student is studying. Students are then placed across various SABIC assets, including Olefins 6, a large-scale ethylene ‘cracker’, System 18, one of the world’s largest low-density polyethylene plants. The North Tees site provides logistical facilities, including storage tanks, underground salt cavities, liquefaction plants and jetties.

Each student is given tasks that they can take ownership of and are supported to see the tasks through to completion by their mentor and the wider SABIC team. In addition, the students are also supported by SABIC’s HR team. The objective for SABIC having a ‘year in industry’ initiative is to invest in future workforce skills, working with local universities, but the benefits of having the students working at site with and experienced team is far reaching for the mentors and students alike. SABIC also has five apprentices joining the business in September and, in addition, is actively recruiting for various engineering roles across their sites.

The student experience

Erin Donnelly, chemical engineering student, Leeds University

“The year in industry placement is providing me with a unique opportunity to build connections in the workplace and also learn from people in different disciplines, by learning about their roles and responsibilities. Being on a site is exciting, we see miniature versions of process plants at university, but seeing the scale of a live site is impressive! This experience will really help me to see my degree through to completion.”

George Fleming, mechanical engineering student, Teesside University

“So far, I am already benefiting from my placement by having lots of ideas for my final year project for university. Learning about environment, health and safety at site is great, because I am learning about it with the context of a real site. This will really help me to gain a practical knowledge of awareness and risk. The experience is also helping me to think about my long-term career goals, I’d like to become a chartered engineer in the future.”

Anas Al-Hindawi, instrumentation and electrical engineering student, Teesside University

“I am really enjoying getting some hands-on experience, putting theory into practice. We are all learning from our mentors and others in the team, but we are also learning from our fellow students by sharing our knowledge. This is a great opportunity for me to build professional relationships and work towards my final year project and beyond.”

Frankie Roberts, mechanical engineering student, Teesside University

“One of the important things I am learning from my mentor, who has years of experience, is the right way to go about problem solving. This real-life experience, getting to work with professionals, is really going to help with me with my future career.”

Zach Purdy, chemical engineering student, Teesside University

“The experience of this placement has been so positive for me. Working in this supportive environment has given me extra confidence and taking ownership of tasks has given me a real sense of independence. I hope this experience will also help me to gain an industry graduate position on completion of my degree.”

The mentor experience

Steve Hornsey, lead engineer and mentor for Anas Al-Hindawi

“It’s really satisfying to be able to share knowledge, develop the students and see how their confidence grows in a short period of time.”

Fred Feenan, lead engineer and mentor for George Fleming

“Being a mentor is challenging in terms of commitment and time, but we all recognise that the effort you put in, you get back from the students. From my own experience, it is great to have somebody to turn to and ask for advice, most of the people the students are working with, have 20 years plus experience.”

Jack Cairns, process engineer and mentor for Zach Purdy

“A student placement is such valuable experience; its firsthand experience working in industry and not just from a textbook. Getting involved in many projects, going out onto site and learning/identifying things that will help them greatly in the future.”

Jos Visser, SABIC Teesside Site Director

“I am delighted that we can support the students with their education via their placements with SABIC. As a business, we rely on many skilled people to be successful. If we don’t have skilled engineering professionals available to us in the future, this would be extremely challenging for us. As well as the students gaining valuable experience, this is also a positive experience for the rest of our workforce. The students bring with them great energy, inquisitive minds, and great attitudes about their opportunity with SABIC. I am also very thankful to the experienced mentors who are generous in their support and knowledge sharing with the students.”