Keeping the sporting analogy, students who have yet to secure a placement could be said to find themselves 1-0 down with 20 minutes to go. They may have started on their placement journey way back in the autumn but now find themselves in the post-exam era and aware that time is not on their side. I have said in a previous article that it is not too late to find a placement, but just as a football manager may need to adapt to the game situation, entering the summer months a student may need to consider a change to their approach.
Here then are some 'gamechangers' that students should consider using to advance their placement search.
Keep in touch with your Placement Office
It may seem silly to say this, but students should make sure their Placement Officer knows they are still actively looking for a placement. You may have attended lectures with them in the autumn, or been for a CV check in spring, but come the summer you may be considered inactive, particularly if you have not been regularly updating on the progress of your applications. Get in touch, maintain contact and provide a number and email address with which you can be reached.
Stay logged on
Ensure you check your email at least twice a day and do the same for the jobs board that your university uses to advertise placements. The clock is ticking for employers too, and it is not uncommon for them to ask for applications to be sent in within a day or two so they can quickly get candidates in for interview. If you aren't checking your messages, you may miss out of some great opportunities that require a quick turnaround.
Broaden your search
If you have been quite particular about the placements and companies that you have applied to up until this point, now would be a good time to open your mind to other opportunities. You may have already missed out on the 'dream' accounting placement at company A, but finance roles at companies B and C will also offer you good experience even if their name is lesser known.
Tap into local knowledge
This is particularly pertinent for students who will be living back home over the summer and away from university. Rather than sit around waiting for placements to arrive in your inbox, why not approach companies in your local area. Get on the phone, fire off prospective applications or make use of your network of friends and family to see what roles may be available. If you source your own placement, make sure to run the job description by your Placement Officer.
Build up a bank of favours
Many students will work part-time jobs over the summer while their placement search is ongoing. Rosters may be agreed a week or two in advance and this can present logistical difficulties if you suddenly find an employer inviting you in for a placement interview at short notice. Keep your manager onside, and perhaps offer to cover shifts for your colleagues so that when the time comes that you need a favour at short notice, your colleagues are prepared to help you out.
There are no guarantees that changing tactics will get you to where you want to be, but if your gameplan hasn't worked over the last 8 months, a change of direction could be just what you need.
Here then are some 'gamechangers' that students should consider using to advance their placement search.
Keep in touch with your Placement Office
It may seem silly to say this, but students should make sure their Placement Officer knows they are still actively looking for a placement. You may have attended lectures with them in the autumn, or been for a CV check in spring, but come the summer you may be considered inactive, particularly if you have not been regularly updating on the progress of your applications. Get in touch, maintain contact and provide a number and email address with which you can be reached.
Stay logged on
Ensure you check your email at least twice a day and do the same for the jobs board that your university uses to advertise placements. The clock is ticking for employers too, and it is not uncommon for them to ask for applications to be sent in within a day or two so they can quickly get candidates in for interview. If you aren't checking your messages, you may miss out of some great opportunities that require a quick turnaround.
Broaden your search
If you have been quite particular about the placements and companies that you have applied to up until this point, now would be a good time to open your mind to other opportunities. You may have already missed out on the 'dream' accounting placement at company A, but finance roles at companies B and C will also offer you good experience even if their name is lesser known.
Tap into local knowledge
This is particularly pertinent for students who will be living back home over the summer and away from university. Rather than sit around waiting for placements to arrive in your inbox, why not approach companies in your local area. Get on the phone, fire off prospective applications or make use of your network of friends and family to see what roles may be available. If you source your own placement, make sure to run the job description by your Placement Officer.
Build up a bank of favours
Many students will work part-time jobs over the summer while their placement search is ongoing. Rosters may be agreed a week or two in advance and this can present logistical difficulties if you suddenly find an employer inviting you in for a placement interview at short notice. Keep your manager onside, and perhaps offer to cover shifts for your colleagues so that when the time comes that you need a favour at short notice, your colleagues are prepared to help you out.
There are no guarantees that changing tactics will get you to where you want to be, but if your gameplan hasn't worked over the last 8 months, a change of direction could be just what you need.
i do this anyway...broaden mysearch to basically ANYTHING. check my emails on my phone. update my progress form. look for local companies and those of family friends. i do accounting with finance and say about 150 people on my.course.....i only know of 3 (three) people with a placement. i think instead of falsely teaching us of how to get a placement, the university, particularly mine, should just stick to a little encouragement but be realistic on the numbers and expectations. i have spent too much money with no reimbursement and time where i could be studying. i may sound ridiculous, but i have worked my socks off and even outperformed students on assessment days whos best example of themselves was to get to uni or the '1-0' down on the footy pitch and.still i didnt get the.job. placement offices need reviewing because they do nothing and could save universities a lot of costs. thank u for reading my opinion.
ReplyDeleteHello Anonymous, and thanks for entering into the debate. I'm obviously going to have a different opinion to you on the value of a placement office, but I'm genuinely sorry to hear that you feel that you have had such a negative experience.
ReplyDeleteI hope this won't come across as patronising but it sounds as though you are doing all the right things. You don't get to assessment days without making good applications, but perhaps what happens when you get there is not working for you. I trust you have approached the recruiters for feedback after you have been unsuccessful?
In terms of being realistic with students, in the first lecture I give at the start of the academic year, I spell it out to the class that not everybody in the room will be successful. That getting a placement is difficult, time-consuming and often frustrating. There is no false pretence on my part.
With regard to your closing comments suggesting that placement offices do nothing, I will respect your view as you are entitled to have it. But I will also listen to the opinions of the 120 students I helped to secure a sandwich placement last year, to the hundreds and thousands who I have placed in previous years and to those who will starting their placements in the coming weeks. I am not sure many too many of them would find common ground with your view.
The fact you feel you outperformed other students that were successful strikes me as the issue. Attitude can often be a deciding factor at an interview, and those students that were successful will have demonstrated the desired qualities for that role. Reviewing placement offices won't change the outcome of individual students assessment centres, after all, students can be given advice and guidance but they are left to their own devices on the day, only they can take responsibility for performance. I agree that managing expectations is important, however I am not sure how a review of placement offices would result in you feeling better about money spent on travel and loss of study time? Also if you think the placement job market is challenging it’s nothing compared to the graduate job market, not every undergraduate is looking for a placement, but nearly every graduate is looking for a graduate job. My advice is suck it up, keep at it and see this as practice for the graduate job market. Placemnt Offices can't take responsibility when it goes wrong for a student, just like they can't take all the criedit when it goes right.
ReplyDeleteI have been applying for a Placement since September last year, only now I have got 3 Assessment Days all in June next month. All I can say is keep on trying and have faith. I have applied to over 70 positions and only about half had contacted me back. In my University out of 150 students, only 1 person had secured a Placement.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting mix of comments. To the student with assessment centres coming up in June, I'm pleased to see that your persistence is starting to bear fruit. Now that you have got your foot in the door, make sure that you prepare accordingly. 8 months and 70 applications is a long journey to this point, so make the most of these opportunities.
ReplyDeleteIf your Careers/Placement service offer mock interviews, book an appointment ASAP, and if they have access to the AGCAS DVD called At The Assessment Centre, watch it to give you an idea of what to expect.
Having three assessment centres in a short space of time could work to your advantage. After the first one, write down everything you were asked, the answers you gave and do an analysis of what you did well and what you could have done better. This can be used to target your perceived weaknesses in preparation for the second assessment centre.
I'd love to know how you get on, so could you update me on how things progress, either on here or on Twitter?