Location, Location, Location

Once in a while I receive an email from a student than makes me wince. It usually starts with a nice sweetener along the lines of ‘I have an interview with…..’ which gives me a false illusion that this is going to be a positive interaction. The follow up sentence is what brings the pain. ‘How far away is [enter name of town]?’

There are several things about this simple question that really grate. Firstly, I’m not a walking talking atlas. If your geography isn’t all that hot, ever heard of Google Maps? When I stop being flippant, a more serious issue comes to mind. Did you not check the location of the placement before applying? If not, why the hell not?!

I spend quite a bit of time encouraging my students to explore placement opportunities outside their immediate environment. While I’m sure that most of us would appreciate a job that is literally on our doorstep, alleviating the need and cost of daily commute, the reality is that is unlikely to happen. The day I had to break it to a student that there were no Investment Banks in Peckham sticks fondly in my memory.

However, while it is positive for students to search for placements outside their usual bus route, there needs to be a dose of realism when making applications. Can I realistically commute there from where I am living? Would I be prepared to relocate for this placement? If the answer to these questions is no, why are you wasting your time, and that of the employer, by submitting an application in the first place. It is a bit of a head scratcher from my perspective.

In this instance, my student was relatively fortunate. The interview was a mere 15 miles from their house, in a neighbouring county. It could have been hours away in another part of the country. Always check the location of a placement before submitting your application. Not only will it keep your Placement Officer happy, but will mean you will avoid nasty surprises when you’ve been invited for an interview in Timbuktu.

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• Come Back Brighter
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• So much for the ten year plan, I just want to get drunk and headbang

Back in the saddle

I returned today to The Placement Office after a two month break. I have to say not a lot changes. Mostly the same companies advertising at the same time of year. Lots of competition for students just to get an appointment to see their placement team, as the start of term rush maintains a pace that tests time and resources. First draft CVs arriving with frankly ridiculous personal email addresses (seriously, CynicalPinkie?) Not to mention all of the politics that goes on in the background. The latter I've been very pleased to do without during my time off, but the rest I've rather missed.

I've resumed my duties with a increased level of respect for placement students. While I often hear good things about what they do during their internships, it is rare that I get a glimpse for myself. Beyond my interactions with the marketing team at RateMyPlacement and a small handful of students who secure placements on campus, placement years take place outside my HE bubble. Having stepped outside that zone for a couple of months, I was surprised to find placement students from my own university making contributions that I could witness with my own eyes.

In the course of ferrying Jr around to his many medical appointments, I've met a great number of healthcare professionals. During a session with a paediatric physiotherapist, I was asked if it was okay for a student to sit in. Naturally I agreed and soon discovered that the person in question was a physio student from my HEI. A few weeks later, a meeting with an Occupational Therapist occurred and again there was a student on hand, learning from their mentor through observation and enhancing their understanding of what the profession involves. I didn't know either student personally, given I'm not involved with healthcare placements, but it filled me with a sense of pride to see them taking the early steps of what will hopefully be long and successful careers.

During the months to come, I won't just be viewing my cohort as students who need placements. The Cynical Pinkies of the world all have the potential to be difference makers and not just during their internships. Whether it be in the health industry, designing a useful bit of code, marketing a company through social media or running lab tests, placement students will be contributing to their employers, clients and wider community. Working in placements provides me with a privileged position to play a small part in making that happen. It is great to be back in the saddle and I'm looking forward to going for the ride with the class of 2013/14.

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Come Back Brighter

The beginning of term is nigh! It is hard to fathom how things have come around again quite so quickly. In the next couple of weeks students across the country will take the first steps of their placement journey with organised lectures and the scrum to book a CV appointment with their placement officer. It tends to be an extremely busy time of year so please be patient but persevere!

One topic that may be touched upon but is unlikely to be covered in detail at this early stage of the process is rejection. Funnily enough when pitching the idea of undertaking a placement year to an audience mixed with keenies and the apathetic, the 'R' word is not one of the most encouraging in the dictionary. And yet for me it is probably one of the most important words that arise from the placement hunt because it is often how a student responds to rejection that will determine if they will ultimately be successful in securing a placement.

Of the 160-odd students from my courses who secured a placement during academic year 2012/13 I would estimate that 95% of them tasted rejection before receiving an offer. Very few students secure the first placement they apply for, so unless you are positive that you will be in that lucky 5%, it is something that you are going to have to come to terms with.

I'm not going to pretend that rejection is a good thing. I know from my own personal experience just how frustrating and demotivating it can be to throw your heart and soul into something and not get the rewards that you feel your efforts merit. But there are two ways to react to a setback when job hunting. You can throw your toys out of the pram, be angry and halt all applications to protect yourself from future disappointment, or you can come back brighter, harnessing all negative feeling and using it as motivation for future challenges.

The second option is what I will be encouraging my students to follow as they begin their quest for a placement starting Summer 2014. There is a long way to go between now and then, during which time most placement seekers will experience setbacks. As most of my students who secured a placement last year can testify, the first hurdle is not the end of the race. Get past it and there is still a reward to chase down.

Good luck to everybody looking for a placement this year. Keep your eye on #PlacementChat throughout the coming months where RateMyPlacement, a range of employers and I will be on hand to answer your placement questions. Hope to see you there.

• The Placement Officer has left the building
• Good things come to those who wait
• Who's that calling you?

The Placement Officer has left the building

With summer almost behind us, Placement Officers up and down the land are drawing up their plans for the start of academic year 2013/14. The last 12 months has been a marathon, and just when you think things are starting to die down, the madness that is the start of term creeps up on you at astonishing pace. Hold onto your hats folks as things are about to get hectic.

For me, 2012/13 unofficially drew to a close today, retiring on 151 placements not out. Back in December this seemed a long way off with just 4 students having placements secured, but my estimate of 150 appears to have been pretty darn accurate. Admittedly the final tally may yet roll on a few more notches with pockets of interviews still in progress and hopefully one or two students coming out of the woodwork to declare they have been working for several months already but forgot to mention it. But any way I look at it, this has been a good year and one that I hope to build upon for the year ahead.

Before that though, I'm taking a hiatus. After seven and a half years of wading through applications and trawling the depths of the internet to search for placement opportunities, I'm taking up a short term position that is more taxing than psychometric tests and more demanding than the UCAS points requirements of an investment bank. I'm swapping The Placement Office for a brief spell of nappies and weaning by taking a period of Additional Paternity Leave to look after The Placement Officer Jr. It's certainly going to be a different challenge but one that I'm very much looking forward to.

In the coming weeks, the blog and twitter account may be a touch quiet while I'm entertained by gurgles and Jeremy Kyle, though I have a feeling that I will struggle to fully let go of the placement ball. I still plan to be involved with #PlacementChat which has grown way beyond what I envisaged a year ago, so you'll still find me lurking on social media, ready and willing to answer placement related questions.

Good luck to my industry colleagues with the impending start of term, and to my student followers who are about to embark on their placement search, I wish you all the very best. See you again soon.

Ladies and gentlemen....... The Placement Officer has left the building

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Good things come to those who wait

A few months ago I wrote an article imploring students to not give up on placements. It was mid-April, exams were coming up on the horizon and understandably focus was on revision rather than application forms. The message of that article was succinct - it's not too late to get a placement, and it is something that I've been repeating on Twitter ever since.

I can understand the mindset of a student, who after months of trying and getting nowhere is prepared to throw in the towel and turn their back on placements. But if I could bottle resilience and sell it, I'd be considerably richer than I am now. During the months of May, June and July, I've had 77 of my students secure placements. That is during months where some people will have thought it too late to get a placement and not bothered to look for one. I don't want to say I told you so but..... well, you know what comes next!

During July alone which is a month when you may expect the well to run dry, more than 30 of my students have secured placements. From interactions with colleagues in other universities, it is a similar picture. July has been a busy month with lots of successes to report. It is the healthiest I've seen the placement market since the Lehman Brothers fallout in 2008 and with what are potentially green shoots of recovery in the economy, there is reason to be optimistic that next year will be even better.

The message for students preparing to embark on their second year at university, combined with searching for a placement, is be ready to play the long game. Many of my students who have secured their placement in recent days have been going hard at it since last autumn and are finally getting the fruit of their endeavour. How we react to setbacks and disappointments is important. You can fall at the first hurdle and give up, or you can learn from the experience and clear it at the next time of asking. Good things can indeed come to those who wait.

Resilience, determination, bloody-mindness. They aren't necessarily the competencies you are asked to expand upon when applying for placements, but they are qualities that many of my students have exhibited in abundance in their search for work experience. It is great to see so many of them now being rewarded for going the distance.

One sentence says it all

Yesterday afternoon I was paid a visit by one of my students who had just completed their placement year. He had literally come from his last morning at work, armed with the leaving presents his colleagues had clubbed together to buy him as a thank you for the last 12 months of service. I asked him how the experience had been an in one sentence summed up everything I think prospective placement students need to know about work experience.

'I learnt more in my placement year than I did in the two years of my course.'

It is the sort of headline that newspaper sub-editors or marketing bods could spend hours trying to formulate. Very simple, direct and powerful. It is a message I'll be quoting many times in the future.

Opportunity Knocks

If you've just completed your first year at university, well done. Mission accomplished. Now what are you going to do? There was a time when this represented a 3-4 month holiday, catching up with school friends and earning a bit of cash to redress the balance of your student overdraft. I can certainly recall spending my summer vacations picking up whatever work I could to cover the cost of impending sunshine holidays.

Times have changed somewhat now however. Sure, there will still be trips to the Balearics filled with mischief, and unsociable hours spent working replenishing the pet food aisle in supermarkets, but for the undergraduate intake of 2012, the summer of 2013 also means the start of the great placement search. Traditionally the investment banks and professional services get their student recruitment underway from 1 July, but it appears that IBM have stolen a march on them and have already opened up for applications for their industrial placement schemes. See for yourself with the links below

Image via CrunchBase

Business Placements 

Finance Placements

Human Resources Placements

Information Technology Placements  

Marketing Placements 
Software Development Placements 

Scotland Based Placements

So what are you going to do this week? Will you be stuck glued to your TV set willing the rain to go away so you can watch some tennis at Queens Club? Or will you put on your placement hat and start working your way through the IBM CV, articulating your adaptability, self-determination, effective communication and initiative inside 150 words?

A word of advice for you before you proceed. The IBM CV Template is very different from an CV you've previously used. I strongly recommend that if you plan to get ahead an make an early application to IBM, you get your application checked out by your Placement Officer or Careers Advisor before you press send. Don't be fooled into thinking it is the summer vacation so they won't be at university - in most cases they will be, and likely in a position to offer you more time than they will be able to when the new term begins in the Autumn. Make sure you take advantage of this.

The Summer of 2014 seems like a long way off right now, but believe me it will come around quickly. If you've any plans for undertaking a placement (and you really should!) there is no time like the present to get the ball rolling.

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So much for the ten year plan, I just want to get drunk and headbang

I was asked recently if I wanted to write a guest blog article for the University of Kent Employability blog - little did they know that I am Kent alumnus! Here is the article in which I consider what I would tell the teenage me who rolled up in Canterbury many moons ago

You’ve probably heard lots about Employability. It has been a buzzword around universities for the last few years, used in the context of helping students to be both ready for work and desirable to graduate employers. There’s a huge range of ways in which your careers service can support your employability these days, and if it is anything like where I work, there will be dedicated workshops, focussed employability weeks, the chance to participate in an employability award and various other activities. In other words, it’s in your face and the opportunity is readily available for you to engage, should you wish to do so.

When I started out at UKC some 15 years ago, I was not very career-minded. As a placement professional, I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that the Twitter dialogue which led to this article being written was the first meaningful exchange I’ve had with the University of Kent Careers team. I didn’t seek out their help when looking for part-time jobs or graduate roles. Back then I didn’t know that placements existed. I spent most of my days keeping the Rutherford bar staff employed rather than participate in the sort of opportunities attending university offers to students. If there was a stereotypical undergraduate who could have done with careers advice, I was that person.

So if I could rewind the clock to talk with the 18 year old me, what would I be saying?

Well firstly I’d be telling me to wise up. University is serious business and not to be taken lightly. With tuition fees now so much higher than they were in my day, there is little point in applying if you aren’t going to take your studies seriously. Even if your first year doesn’t count towards your final degree, discount it at your peril as it will count with graduate and placement employers. That 40 per cent pass mark achieved through minimal effort will not look good if you have aspirations for securing graduate jobs. Start as you mean to carry on, knuckle down and have some good grades to be moving on with.

Next, be strategic when picking your clubs and societies.

With all due respect to the UKC Rock Soc who I enjoyed both membership and committee involvement with in my time, in hindsight there are other things I could have done with my time that would have enhanced my CV and experiences beyond bar crawls and the occasional trip to rock clubs in London. Involvement with RAG, CSR (Radio Station) and taking up the offer to play Offensive Lineman for the American Football team I would have both enjoyed and provided plenty of material for writing future applications. (Before I get an influx of messages from Kent metallers, I’d have still joined the Rock Soc!)

Without doubt if I knew then what I know now, a placement would have been high up on my agenda.

I make a living now out of promoting placements and work experience to my students, but it really isn’t a very difficult sell. Paid industry experience, increased graduate prospects, higher starting salary. Never mind the fact that most graduate employers will expect you to hold a certain amount of work experience. Placements are invaluable. I wish I had done one when I was a student and I can’t encourage UKC students enough to pursue internships or placements. If you haven’t already spoken to the Careers team, don’t delay in doing so!

Use social media to get ahead

While the class of 2013 undoubtedly face a more competitive graduate market than the one my peers and I had over a decade ago, one area that you do have in your favour compared to the old school is the emergence of social media. Through effective use of LinkedIn you have the opportunity to network with recruiters in a way that my class could only have dreamed of. Savvy students can engage in meaningful dialogue with companies through #PlacementChat or keep up to date with the placement schemes of individual organisations by following their Facebook page.

So in a nutshell, take advantage of the opportunities that university presents to you, speak regularly to the Careers team throughout your time at UKC and prioritise securing a placement. You will not regret it.

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We've come a long long way together

Cover via Amazon

If you are a student who has been looking for a placement since the autumn and not yet secured one, you're probably a little bit fed up by now. You've made dozens of applications, endured those pesky online tests, maybe come up short a couple of times at assessment centres or just missed out in interviews. If this sounds very familiar, you have every right to feel disheartened.

With the end of year exams fast coming up on the horizon, you may even be thinking about throwing in the towel and giving up on the placement dream, feeling understandably bitter at the hours and days lost without reward. Nobody likes being told 'thanks, but no thanks', particularly if you're getting that Bill Murray Groundhog Day sensation of deja vu.

So if you've had enough of placements, I sympathise with your frustration. But before you call it quits, I just want to let you in on a little stat. I was going through my placement spreadsheet (supergeek!) from last year to see when my students secured their roles. What month do you think it was that was the most successful in terms of numbers? Well, I can tell you it wasn't any time before Christmas. It wasn't January. February? No. It wasn't March or April either. The single most prolific month for my students in securing placements during 2011/12 was May.

Check your calendar folks, we're not there yet. You might well have been doing this now for more than 6 months without reward, but I urge you to stick with it a while longer. Every application made, every interview taken, every rejection email received will have made you battle hardened and ready to strike gold. Whereas earlier in your placement journey you may have lacked interview experience, you'll now be more confident in answering questions and presenting yourself to companies as someone they want to employ.

If you give up now, all of your efforts to this point will have been in vain. I can't promise that if you keep going you will be rewarded for your endeavour, but just as my students couldn't see where their placement offer was coming from last year, yours could be just around the corner.

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We sold our souls to the man

Something that my students often struggle with is selling their skills. Often when you scratch below the surface they have brilliant things to talk about, but on first viewing their CVs can look pretty ordinary. If given the chance to meet with a recruiter there is an opportunity to rectify this by putting meat on the bones of an application, but that can only be done if the first review is passed. As such it is hugely important for aspiring placement students to sell themselves from the word go.

It is not just my students who find this a difficult craft to master. I'm as guilty of underselling myself as anybody. Standing on rooftops and shouting about the good work I'm doing or recent achievements just doesn't come naturally, but it is something I'm determined to conquer, hence the addition of some personal achievements to the Desktop version of this blog.

When making my submissions for the NPIAs last autumn, rather than limit myself to just words, I decided to create a short video clip to highlight some of the work I've undertaken as The Placement Officer. In the months since then I've attempted several articles in which I hoped to portray this vid as an example of how to make an application stand out, but they all felt pretty narcissistic and so never saw the light of day.

However, determined to make sure I work towards my 7 C's of digital career literacy I'm not going to discard the promo now that it has served its initial purpose and been played in front of a judging panel. Instead I am going to publish the clip here for all and sundry to watch.

So what do we have here: A useful marketing tool? A Placement Assistant with a chip on his shoulder? A clever way to demonstrate I don't take myself too seriously? You decide.

If viewing from a mobile browser and the video clip does not appear, use this link 

For anybody interested in the technical side, this clip was put together using nothing more sophisticated than Windows Live Movie Maker, images captured using print screen and a little imagination.

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4 Ways to Improve Your CV

We all know that a good CV can make the difference in getting a foot in the door with an employer. Judging by some of the drafts I receive from my students, there are varying degrees of interpretation on what makes for a good CV! This guest article courtesy of AllTheTopBananas.com provides 4 simple straightforward ways to improve your CV, and hopefully get you in front of a recruiter.

When it comes to searching for a job, your CV is one of the most important tools that you have. It’s the first impression that you’ll give most employers, and if you want to fight off the competition, it needs to be well written and showcase your skills in the best possible way.

Let’s take a look at 4 ways in which you can improve your CV.

Focus on results, not tasks

This is a mistake that most people make. Rather than simply listing the tasks that you carried out in your previous roles, focus on the achievements that you made. For example, a restaurant manager focusing on tasks might say ‘I managed the restaurant during busy service periods’. If they were focusing on results though, they might say ‘I increased daily sales by 25% over a three month period’. Even if your CV mainly includes trainee jobs without a great deal of responsibility, there will be ways to showcase the results that you helped to achieve.

Include a personal statement

Many people don’t bother to include a personal statement in their CV, but it’s a great way to get noticed and stand out from the crowd. A personal statement is basically a couple of short paragraphs at the beginning that tell the employer about your skills and experience, before they get into the nitty gritty. In this section, back your claims up with brief evidence. Rather than just listing qualities such as ‘team player, strong communicator and problem solver’, explain how you’ve acquired these skills or developed them.

Cut out the waffle

When you’re applying for a job, it’s likely that not everything that you have on your CV will be relevant. If this is the case, be ruthless and cut it out. If you have a Masters degree and ten years experience in your sector, for example, it’s not necessary to list all of your GCSE results and the groups that you were involved in at school. Most employers are inundated with applications for every job that they advertise, so make their job easier for them. Stick to the relevant and useful information, and if possible, keep your CV to 2 pages of A4.

Tailor your CV for each application 

You should never send exactly the same CV to every employer. Recruiters will be able to spot this from a mile away, and it gives out the message that you aren’t really interested in their company or this particular position. Before sending your CV, read through the job description and person specification very carefully. Consider how you can make some tweaks and changes so you’re meeting all of the requirements. It could take less than half an hour to do this, and it could be the difference between being invited for an interview and having your application rejected.

Have you updated your CV recently? What do you think are the most important aspects?

This article was brought to you by Ruth Hinds on behalf of AllTheTopBananas. ATTB allows you to search for and browse through UK jobs in one place, from IT jobs in Cambridge to receptionist jobs in Liverpool. You can also upload your CV to increase your chances of being headhunted.

Guest Article - My Day at the NPIAs

Here is an article written by Dan Garlick, who won a competition to be my guest at the National Placement & Internship Awards. Dan kindly kept a diary of his day and wanted to share his experience of the NPIAs. It was a pleasure to meet him and glad that he enjoyed the event. Hopefully some networking on the day will help him to secure a summer placement later this year in the Financial Sector. Feel free to connect with Dan via LinkedIn if you're recruiting talent. Over to Dan......

07:34 I'm awake, my flatmate is not. He has work at 08:00, but I'm too busy tweeting to move from my bed. If you learn anything from this blog do not buy a Tesco's own iron, it puts more creases in a shirt than you start with. I thought I best wake him, knock on the door, no answer, text him asking if he is getting up for work, reply 'No!' It appears that someone else has the day off work and is not impressed that I woke them, apologies! 

Train is on time, however there's not a place to hang my suit jacket. Lovely spring morning as the train passes the Olympic Park. Off the train at Liverpool Street and head underground to Islington for breakfast with my cousin. Back towards the centre, to St Paul's. I have some time to kill so I visit the Museum of London for an hour and then search for lunch. 

Off to the venue where I meet The Placement Officer who dwarfs me with his sheer height. We get checked in by the RateMyPlacement team, collect our badges and begin to mingle with the other delegates. I'm naturally nervous as I've never been to a networking event but TPO and his university colleagues help to settle the nerves. 

The champagne begins to flow, which loosens the tongue a little and the first business card is handed out. I begin to fend for myself and move away from TPO's shadow and try and network myself. There goes another business card ...

Back into the auditorium for the main event, that everybody was there for. Three top class speakers start the ceremony, with The Apprentice finalist Nick Holzherr concluding with a motivational piece in regards to not giving up. Unfortunately The Placement Officer just missed out on his award, however he should of won it! Definitely a top bloke.

When Dan met The Placement Officer

Bento boxes? Are you aware of these? You get given a wooden oriental style tray and fill it up with food. Genius. After the food the networking continued and I continued to meet new people and gain advice.
Back to Liverpool Street, next stop Ipswich, then bed. 

A massive thanks to The Placement Officer for inviting me and congratulations to the winners and also RMP for hosting a great event! I definitely enjoyed my day in the capital.

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A Year Out, Is Worth Two On Your CV

Here is a guest article from Sam Popham-Holloway, a recruiter who writes the excellent GoodGradGuide - make sure you take the time to read his blog and follow Sam on Twitter via @GoodGradGuide

A Year Out, Is Worth Two On Your CV

Add value to you and your CV with a year away from university

Graduates are always told they don’t have enough work experience. Many leave interviews or find their inbox filling with messages akin to “sorry, you just don’t have enough experience compared to the other candidates...” It can become demoralising. It is often not the amount of experience; but the relevant, professional and therefore credible work experience that eludes many graduate CV’s.

Most students can rustle up some cashier work at the nearby supermarket or bar work at the local pub, but how do you accrue experience that sets you apart from your peers and makes employers want to hire you? The Internet is littered with forums of frustrated students/graduates posing what has become the million-dollar question for any ambitious undergraduate; how do I gain credible work experience?

I am keen to pose an often overlooked way of gaining significant work experience, whilst remaining in the safe arms of student life. Have you heard of A Year In Industry? It’s what your really motivated friend probably rambles on about whilst you try to decide just which drinking game is best for that evening. It is something I never considered, because I never knew about the opportunity and Beer Pong was simply too big a distraction. However, I missed a trick and in my job I see many others who would have really benefited from a year’s worth of experience.

A Year In Industry does exactly what it says on the tin. It gives you a year (or typically 8-10 months away from university) in a career of your choice. Most wisely pick an industry/job that relates to their course and future career aspirations. Many students studying languages are often required or opt to spend a Year Aboard, in what is a very similar scheme. This sees them either working, studying at a university or teaching aboard, with the obvious aim to put their language skills to the test and immerse themselves in a foreign culture.

Both options extend your degree by a year, yet, compared to your peers, a year in the workplace or the sunshine gives you a fantastic opportunity to build up an unparalleled level of commercial experience or improve your language skills. When you graduate you already have the best part of a year of work experience and its not going to be in the local supermarket or watering hole.

The list of advantages of postponing your graduation by a year is longer than you think. Spend your year out impressing the socks off your manager and once graduated there is a good chance you will be asked back to join the firm as a proper, full time employee. I have seen it happen. As graduation approaches and the inevitable job search starts, you can sit back rest assured that you are already sorted in what can be one of the most stressful times in your life.

Should they not ask you back, you still have a solid year's experience and normally a handful of great dinner party stories to boot! Only the best graduates will able to compete with you in the work experience stakes, but they never had time to play Ring of Fire. Moreover, your year away from university should further your personal development, particularly if you spend it abroad, polishing your language skills, experiencing new cultures and learning a few life lessons. It can have a positive impact on more than just your CV.

These are just the most notable benefits of opting to spend a year away from university. The Placement Officer is the ideal point of contact to help you find your placement. In this especially tough graduate market, a Year in Industry could prove priceless when it comes to finding a great graduate job! Take a closer look!

By Sam Popham-Holloway from http://goodgradguide.blogspot.co.uk/ Check it out for chat about articles about graduates and job hunting!

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Guest Post - Preparation overkill

My guest blogger returns with this little story about the dangers of over-preparing for an assessment centre. Just because you think you know it all, doesn't give you a green light for success......

Knowledge is power, use that power carefully..

Picture the scene; you have just been invited to the assessment centre for your dream job and so
you start searching Google, high and low for anything that you can find to prepare you for the day.
Aha, you seem to have struck gold, you find a WikiJobs post detailing everything that happens on
the day, including the questions that will be asked and details of all of the assessment tasks. You pat
yourself on the back, for your most excellent research skills!

You read this information religiously, analysing all of the answers on the WikiJobs post, building
a picture in your head of how the assessment centre will be. You feel confident, memorising your
responses to the questions that you know will be coming up. After all, the post on WikiJobs is
detailed and the original poster has confirmed that they have been successful at this very same
assessment centre.

The day of the assessment centre arrives and it is going well, in fact it is just as you read online; a
couple of individual tasks and a group task. In the group task you know the answer before even
reading the brief and so you recite what you have been practising to the group. Other members of
the group don’t seem to understand, but you push on regardless as clearly you know the correct
answer. You feel good, leading the group, finishing the task early, you must have impressed the
assessors. You feel your preparation has paid off, all the revising and reciting, you know you have
given all the correct answers.

A couple of days later you receive a phone call from the company to let you know that you have
unfortunately been unsuccessful at the assessment centre.

What went wrong here? This is a worrying trend that I have been hearing about recently where
candidates have over prepared, so much so that they have blinded themselves to the reality of an
assessment centre or interview, often they have no idea what went wrong. In the scenario above,
even though the candidate correctly completed all of the tasks at the assessment centre, they
committed the gravest sin of them all; they failed to demonstrate their key competencies.

Because this person was so sure they knew what was coming up they didn't listen to what they were actually asked to do on the day. E.g. in the group task, all focus was on going for the right answer. The recruiters weren't necessarily looking for this; they wanted to see how you work together with the group to achieve a shared goal.

Preparation is vital to achieve success in interviews or assessment centres. Just be careful not to take your eye off the ball and allow your eagerness to impress cause you to miss the point of the task.

Related articles

• What do I need to know about Assessment Centres?
• Getting to Grips with Group Exercises
• Guest Post - Cracking Careers Fairs

Happy birthday to me

Birthday Cake (Photo credit: Will Clayton)

It is the 30th January and a quick flick through the article history of this site tells me that Tales from the Placement Office is one year old today. This time last year when I started typing enthusiastically away, I didn't know if I'd still be going in 2013 but I'm pleased to be here and still going strong.

The cyclical nature of my job means that I've turned a full circle. What I wrote in the first article a year ago is very much where I am today. Business is starting to pick up in a big way and undoubtedly it is time to get busy. Three of my students secured placements yesterday, many more have interviews in the coming days and weeks and all the stress and sweat put into the Autumn term will now start to bear fruit as the number of students with placements secured builds steadily. I'm anticipating it will be a good year and certainly hope that proves to be the case.

Having reached this milestone, I'm giving quite a lot of thought towards the future direction of this blog. I've built up a nice little audience and have no intention of deserting you, but I am very conscious that I don't want the content to become repetitive. While there will be topics that merit new articles, there is only so much that can be written about documenting your experience or creating a good first impression without starting to sound like a broken record.

Some of the most popular articles over the last year have featured external content, such as the video for How to kill your career in 140 characters, the RateMyPlacement Top Employers Guide and the article about Careers Fairs written by my Guest Blogger. I'd like to think I'm in tune with my audience and if there is wider interest in the blog posts that aren't exclusively my witterings, I'm happy to give you what you want.

I'm therefore looking for other people to get involved to help keep this site content rich. You may be a student currently looking for a placement and want to share your experience of the process to date. You could be someone coming to the end of your placement and want to tell the world about why it has been such a worthwhile experience. Maybe you're an employer wanting to reach out to students and placement officers about your fantastic placement and internship opportunities. I'd also love to hear from other Placement Officers about the innovative ways in which they are helping their students to secure work experience.

If you feel like you want to contribute to the site or want to get in touch to discuss things further. I'm looking forward to hearing from you and seeing what collectively we can bring to this site over the next 12 months.

Related articles

• A year in the making
• Rate My Placement - Top Employers Guide 2012/13
• Introducing 'The Placement Officer'
• The 7 C's of Digital Career Literacy - In Practice
• And the award goes to.........

A year in the making

12 months ago I had the good fortune to attend the National Placement and Internship Awards, RateMyPlacement's annual event that recognises the good work of universities and employers in the placement industry, and celebrates the success of the top interns and placement students. The clip below provides a nice recap of how things unfolded on the day.

I left the event feeling inspired. Maybe it was listening to the stories of triple Olympic medallist Steve Backley, or perhaps it was talking with some of the student nominees about the highlights of their work experience and plans beyond graduation. Whatever it was, when I left City University that evening I felt my passion for placements elevated to another level, and on my journey home the first thoughts about developing a placement-themed blog started to take shape. One year on, and I'm still here doing my thing, so I guess it wasn't such a bad idea.

I will be heading back to the NPIAs again next month, and very much look forward to being inspired again. Only this time, I want to share the experience with somebody else. And that person could be you.

As a thank you to everybody who has read my blog, viewed my Pinterest board, engaged with me on Twitter or taken part in #PlacementChat over the last year, I am offering one of you the chance to be my guest at the Awards. I have two invitations. One of them is for me, the other could be yours. 

2 Invites. 1 is mine. Who wants the other?

If you fancy taking a trip to London town on Friday 15 February and have the opportunity to network with the top placement and graduate recruiters, as well as enjoy the great hospitality of RateMyPlacement, read the small print below and then leave me a comment on this article telling me why you would like to be my guest at the Awards. You have until 9pm on Wednesday 23 January to do so.

Important Stuff

• The NPIAs are taking place on 15 February in Central London. If you can't realistically be in Central London on 15 February, don't throw your name in the hat.
• The times listed on the invitation is 2.00pm - 7.00pm. Going on my experience of 2012, the Awards may stretch beyond 7.00pm so bear this in mind when considering your travel arrangements.
• More information about the event can be found at www.rmpawards.co.uk
• The invitation covers entry to the Awards only. It doesn't cover your travel expenses to and from London or any other expenses incurred. They are your responsibility and I cannot offer any financial support (though if you're lucky I may buy you a drink when the Awards moves to the pub afterwards). I appreciate this may restrict things to people based in the South East, but I can't do anything about the location of the event. 
• The dress code for the event is smart casual. Look at the video clip above and you'll see that the majority of attendees leaned towards smart. Turn up in a hoodie and timberland boots and I'll revoke your invitiation
• It is not a mandatory requirement to do so, but the winner will be invited to pen a short guest article for my blog, documenting their experience of the NPIAs. 
• There is only one invitation available so there will only be one winner. The winner will be chosen by me and my decision will be final. 
• Please include your Twitter username in your comment - I'll need to contact the winner to let them know the good news!

Related articles

• And the award goes to.........
• Rate My Placement - Top Employers Guide 2012/13
• Ignore work experience at your peril
• Today was a good day
• Nobody said this would be easy