Nobody said this would be easy

In case you hadn't noticed already, it is pretty chilly outside, Christmas is fast approaching and the end of the autumn term is imminent. That went pretty quickly don’t you think? Heading into the festive season, I think it is a good time to reflect on what has happened over the last couple of months with a view for planning ahead for the future.

From my perspective, The Placement Office has never been busier. Interest in placements from my courses has been huge and demand for appointments has exceeded supply throughout the term. The pre-placement lecture series has been very well attended and my students have benefited from listening to the range of employers who were invited to campus, ranging from blue-chip household names to local SMEs. The number of students making applications and being invited for telephone interviews, assessment centres or taking psychometric tests has been very pleasing.

But here is a statistic that I want to share. I'm hoping to place in the region of 150 students this academic year. As things stand, there are 4 placements confirmed. This is not something that is getting me into a panic, though as I mentioned in a previous article, news of early placement success can have a detrimental effect on others. I've been doing this job long enough to know when the bulk of my students secure a placement, and it is from March onwards. In all of the literature I circulate and in the early lectures I make this point abundantly clear, and yet I still find myself being asked “Is it too late to get a placement?” in early December.

I view placements secured before the turn of the year as bonus. The autumn term is the time to soak up information and lay the groundwork for future success. If you've already bagged a placement for next year, congratulations. You can sit back over the Christmas break and get yourself focused on your studies until the summer. You will however be in the minority. For everybody else, the placement search continues.

You may have already made some applications, but not yet had a positive response. Perhaps it time to go through the applications you've sent off, analyse if you could have better answered the questions and look to improve with your next batch of applications.

Perhaps you've got through to a telephone or face-to-face interview, but been unsuccessful. Think about what you did well, what didn't work and how you would prepare better in the future. Very few students will blitz their first interviews, and those who don’t will be better for the experience so long as they learn from it.

Maybe you've not even made an application or drawn up a CV at this point. It certainly isn't too late to start, but why not use the holidays to get started. Lots of companies have deadlines at the end of December and January, so there is no better time to get busy.

Wherever you are at with your placement search, do not be discouraged. View every unsuccessful application as a building block to your eventual success. Nobody said that getting a placement would be easy, but if you remain focused on your target and learn from your setbacks, there is no reason why you can’t be successful.