If you've just started looking for placement opportunities, you may find yourself a little bit lost right now. You'll have had an introductory lecture or two where people like me at your university are spouting the virtues of doing a placement, and sign-posting you to a directory of opportunities for you to plough your way through. Perhaps you've met my friends at RateMyPlacement during their campus campaigns, and found yourself armed with the Top Undergraduate Employers Guide. It is a fantastic little resource, but on first inspection you'll stare at a page of 100 different companies. How are you supposed to know where to start?
In the years I have been doing my job, it has been noticeable that employers are spending more time and resources on talent attraction than when I first started out. Last week I received a job poster through the post, with no additional online material to access. Once upon a time this would have been the norm. In 2015 this not only felt retro but rather inadequate for the digital age where young people hold expectations of having information at their fingertips.
With so many recruiters fighting to attract the same students to their placement and graduate schemes, employers have upped their game on talent acquisition and recognised that they need to distinguish themselves from the competition. Once organisation that I think has done this particularly well is Microsoft, who aside from their corporate careers pages have enlisted their current interns to produce engaging content for the standalone Be Your Future website. It is a great resource for interested candidates to find out straight from the horses mouth what it is like to be an Intern at Microsoft, gain insights into the different roles and opportunities, pick up application advice and provide a platform for engagement between the company and the student market.
Who better than you to promote your business to future undergraduate employees than the incumbents?
Applications for student and graduate opportunities at Microsoft are now open. Apply here
Do not apply until you have checked out the excellent advice and insights on the Be Your Future blog, and be sure to save it down in your favourites.