And the award goes to.........

You'd be hard pressed to find an industry these days that does not have some sort of awards system for recognising the skills and talents of its members. This weekend the BBC Sports Personality of the Year will be announced (David Weir gets my vote). You'll find the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep from cinema competing for Oscars, BAFTAs and the Golden Globes. Hell, there is even an awards site dedicated to honouring the memory of people who have managed to lose their life through sheer acts of stupidity (Please do not try to do anything to get yourself a place on that website!).

Since 2010, the National Placement & Internship Awards has recognised and celebrated the achievements of students, employers and universities in the world of placements. This is my industry and having had the good fortune to attend the last awards back in January 2012, I can confirm that the event lives up to the wording of the press release. My thoughts on the NPIAs may be slightly skewed towards positivity by the fact that I left the event with a bottle of champagne, a rather unique t-shirt and a high commendation, but even without those personal mementos I'm sure that I'd look back fondly, having used the occasion to network with fellow placement professionals, recruiters and meet some incredibly talent students.

So why do I mention this now? Well, the shortlist for the 2013 NPIAs was released at the end of November and I was delighted to see that one of my former placement students is a finalist for one of the awards. Having spent many hours trying to help someone to achieve their goal, it is fantastic to see how they flourished while working in industry. This recognition on a national stage is just reward for the hours of dedication put into applying for placements, and then making the most of the opportunity when it finally came along.

My previous article talked about the need to learn from setbacks to achieve success. I'm pretty confident that all of the students up for an award will have encountered difficulties along the way in their search for  work experience. They will have overcome adversity and secured their placements through hard graft and determination. Students who are currently in the midst of their applications should take inspiration from this. Apply the same work ethic throughout their placement search and into the workplace, and they too could find themselves at the NPIAs in the future.

I'm heading back to the Awards in February and very much looking forward to the festivities. Good luck to all the finalists; hope to see you there.