Things started off with a packed inbox. One of my courses had a deadline for what is usually a very popular placement opportunity. A few days ago I was sitting on just a couple of applications. Clearly word had got around and when the deadline passed in total I had 33 applications to send to the employer. Quantity is not as important as quality, but I was delighted with the standard of CVs and covering letters that had been submitted. A big box ticked for all the groundwork laid in the autumn term through lectures and appointments.
This afternoon I hosted an employer who was presenting to a class of students who I help to find placements. The employer founded a games company following their own placement year and got the business off the ground while still at the university. Some 7 years later, the business is now 60+ employees strong, producing games played by millions of people around the world. Not forgetting his roots, the employer returned to the university, as he has done every year since graduating, to present about the business and inspire the next class of students to apply for placements, whether in his company or elsewhere in the industry. As much as I back myself to sell the benefits of placements to my students, there is nothing quite so effective as hearing the success story from someone who had sat in the same lecture theatre from the same course not so long ago, and gone on to build their empire. I'm expecting lots of appointment requests from this class in the coming week as a result!
On my way home from work, I was greeted with a message from my guest blogger who informed me that they had received two graduate job offers this afternoon. Knowing how much hard work and dedication has gone into applications, preparing for assessment centres and interviews, along with the string of disappointments that have gone their way in recent months, I can't begin to express in words how pleased I was for them. Success earned the hard way, and thoroughly deserved.
And then this evening came the small matter of the first #PlacementChat of 2013. What started as an idea a few months ago and had humble beginnings with just a handful of participants has blossomed into something on a much larger scale. Tonight I was joined by recruiters from several companies, fellow career and placement professionals, career bloggers, RateMyPlacement and an incredible number of students all wanting to ask questions about placements and internships. Information was sought about interviews, assessment centres, placements, how to answer particular questions, and in return the participants received advice from professionals and the chance to network. What began as a hashtag on my notepad is evolving into a melting pot of opportunity, where placement stakeholders interact through social media in a way that they weren't necessarily doing so before.
Today was a good day. Here's hoping for many more to come.
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