A rewarding experience?

With employability high on the agenda at pretty much every university across the country, it is no surprise that there is a degree of out of the box thinking taking place. 'How can we improve our student's employability?' is the question that everybody wants to find a solution. Employers, well the AGR most publicly, make the case for work experience, talking about how competitive the graduate market is. The High Fliers report concurs pointing out 'graduates who have had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their organisations’ graduate programmes'.

I'm not somebody who needs convincing. I work with placements day in day out and know just how much value they add to a student when leaving academia. I wouldn't write this blog or actively promote placements through #PlacementChat with Rate My Placement if I thought I was flogging a dead parrot. The vast majority of the students I have helped to secure a placement over the last few years would agree it was not only a great choice to have made, but also provided a boost to their early career prospects compared to their peers who did not take a placement year.

But what about Careers and Placement services themselves? I'm not going to pretend that everything in my domain is perfect. Personnel should always be looking to improve themselves and resources should meet the changing needs of our clients in the modern era. I'm on one side of the digital divide, I know many brilliant people who are on the other. Tweeting and blogging ultimately doesn't bring home the bacon, it is the results that count and in my business we tend to be judged on the numbers. Are more students getting placements? How many are getting into 'big' companies? etc

It was with considerable personal interest that I read Professor Zahir Irani's comments in Guardian newsletter yesterday, under the section Guardian Higher Education Network.To stave off threats from the private sector, Irani suggests 'Career centres should start thinking and acting more like recruitment companies with dedicated consultants, motivated and, indeed, rewarded for placing students and graduates into jobs.'

Reward for placing students into jobs? That is certainly an interesting proposition. I currently earn a fixed salary, without bonus or incentive. Would my mentality change if my income became partially performance-related? Rather than trying to help all students to secure placements, would I turn my focus specifically upon those who I know have a greater chance of success? Maybe I would offer less support for roles at companies where I know there is little possibility of pushing up the numbers. Why for example would I agree to sit down with a student with a poorly composed application for one of the big 4 professional service companies, when my time could be more lucratively spent with a straight As student applying to a company who genuinely wants to hire from my university? Certainly an interesting ethical dilemma. 

Putting the moral maze aside for one second, let's focus on the reality of placement and careers services. Even with the employability agenda, lots of services are under resourced. Throughout HE, there has been a tightening of budgets and Careers services have not been immune from this. Just because employability has been flavour of the month in recent times, it doesn't necessarily follow that the pursestrings have been loosened to hire more staff and expertise to help make these ambitions a reality. More likely, an increased burden of responsibility has been placed upon consultants and placement officers to deliver the goods, without the reward and incentive that Professor Irani mentions. You only have to scroll through the vacancy pages on jobs.ac.uk these days to see that job security in HE is not what it was. You might find a role that you like but the chances are it will be on a fixed term contract. Short term fixes rather than long term planning.

Then there is the issue of governance within an organisation. From talking to colleagues at the PlaceNet conference, there were many who have found their jobs at risk. Some have had to re-apply for their jobs. Others have had their jobs re-evaluated. During such process, it is not likely to see a role scaled upwards. I myself have been operating under a cloud of uncertainty since the fabled word Restructuring was introduced at my university in recent months. I've had a hand in 123 students (and counting) securing placements during this academic year, yet my 'motivation' and 'reward' has not been financial incentive; it has been to not know (and still don't) if I or my role will have a place within the new structure. 

Interesting times afoot then. Hard work and endeavour don't always bring reward, as many students know only too well as the slog through placement application after placement application. The concept of incentive and reward creates a juxtaposition for staff performing their duties with an axe hovering above. Does that make for a rewarding experience? I guess only time will tell.

Update - full article from Prof. Irani now published on the Guardian website

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.

Related articles

• Considering a Work Placement? Get Crackin'!

Considering a placement? Get crackin’!

Here is a guest article written by the good folk at Gradcracker. If you are looking for a placement in the field of Science, Engineering or Technology, make sure you add them to your favourites.

With hundreds of thousands of students graduating this year, the job market is fiercely competitive. Statistics taken from a recent High Fliers Survey showed that there is an average of 52 applications per graduate job. To give yourself a better chance of securing a job, you should try to gain work experience whilst studying – securing a work placement is therefore becoming more and more worthwhile.

The benefits of doing a work placement are many and increase your employability drastically. Work placements are becoming more and more common, with some courses making them compulsory. On Gradcracker we advertise hundreds of Science, Engineering and Technology work placement opportunities all year round. Most companies tend to divide these between summer and year-long placements but shorter placements are becoming more frequent especially amongst Technology companies.

Get that placement!

Writing a CV and covering letter can be a lengthy and tiresome process but they are crucial to your chances of success. Employers are looking for evidence you fit the role and they look for what they refer to as ‘key competencies’. Common key competencies include: problem-solving, leadership, teamwork, decision-making and communication skills. When writing your CV and covering letter make sure you check what skills the employer is particularly looking for and try and highlight these in your application. Use your covering letter to show that you meet the key requirements and you are familiar with the company and what it does. A lot of students make the mistake of using a scatter-gun approach when applying for placements, try not to do this and, instead, send targeted applications to your chosen employers. Last but not least check, check and check your application again and then get a second opinion – spelling and factual mistakes could put you straight into the ‘no’ pile regardless of your qualifications and experience. If you are struggling to compile a CV and covering letter pay a visit to your careers advisor who will be more than happy to help.

Social media is part of our day-to-day life and is great for catching up with friends and family. The increase in the usage of social media and online activity means it is easy for employers to do a quick search for you online. This is becoming more and more common and is being used as a ‘screening method’. It can provide a ‘living CV’ for the employer: all your social networking accounts, photographs, blogs and comments you have made might be accessed. Make sure you delete or hide anything that could damage your chances of securing a placement. Similarly, ensure you have a professional sounding email address such as firstname.lastname@email.com and a suitable voicemail if employers try to contact you!

Making the most of your placement!

Starting a placement can be a daunting experience with new surroundings and new people. But it is also an opportunity to learn and to make new contacts.

Before starting your placement, you should think about what you want to achieve from your placement and also think about what your employer expects from you. Make sure you check what time you should start and try to arrive a little earlier - starting early/leaving late will only impress. If you are unsure of the dress code, phone beforehand to check as you don’t want to be making a negative first impression on your first day. It may sound obvious but ensure you are polite when talking to colleagues and others.

When you begin your placement try not to be nervous. Whilst a new workplace, job and colleagues may seem a little frightening, after even just a day or two things will start to feel familiar. Making notes during briefings shows an eagerness to learn and get things right and if you need clarification don’t be afraid to ask. During your placement show enthusiasm and initiative, try to do everything to the best of your ability and make a lasting impression – a lot of employers view a placement as an extended interview for their graduate programme.

At the end of your placement thank people who went out of their way to make your stay such a valuable experience, for example, supervisors and colleagues. Try and get a written reference as this will be beneficial when applying for Graduate opportunities. Lastly, think about the skills you have learned and what your placement has taught you.

For further advice take a look at the Gradcracker toolkit here

Gradcracker is the careers website for Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) university students and for employers of SET undergraduates and graduates. Our employers receive over 4,000 visitors a day to their corporate websites direct from gradcracker.com. Gradcracker is now in its sixth year and the UK’s leading employers recognise it as the number one place to recruit SET students - over 300 companies regularly advertise on gradcracker.com. 

By Claire Sugden from Gradcracker

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.

Related articles

• NPIAs 2013
• Guest Article - My Day at the NPIAs

Your future at your fingertips

When I think back to the careers resources that were available to me when I was a student, I look around at the class of 2012 and feel rather green with envy. Yes we had a dedicated Careers service, graduate fairs and employer presentations, but fast forward to the present day and this looks like chicken feed in comparison.

With the dawn of social media, students have never had it so good. Access to employers and recruiters has never been so easy, with all of the big companies having a presence on Facebook and LinkedIn. YouTube is packed with useful video clips offering advice on how to make applications, or prepare for interviews. Online communities such as The Student Room and Wikijob empower students to share experiences of assessment centres. The fantastic CareerPlayer offers a huge range of videos for students to browse different industries and career options. And of course, anybody who is anybody can be contacted directly on Twitter.

This blog provides a very small snapshot of what is achievable in this age of technology. Within 24 hours of setting up this page and the associated Twitter account, I have had the fine people of GradWeb link to two of my posts, the fabulous boys and girls at RateMyPlacement retweet my message to their near 2000 followers and had journalist, internship campaigner and founder of GraduateFog Tanya de Grunwald reply to one of my tweets. Throw into the mix a direct message from GradPlus to see how my graduate job search is going, and you can see just how much can be achieved, even in a very short space of time.

The days of paper application forms are long gone but fortunately for me there is still a big role to play for the Placement or Careers services at universities. My colleagues and I are there to provide support, advice and guidance to help students take those first steps into what he hope are successful careers. Don't be afraid to make use of the services we offer, whether that be CV checking, bouncing ideas around or taking advantage of our information resources.

Ultimately, it is down to the individual student to decide upon the path they take in pursuing their career aspirations. As Tom Watson's Intern discovered last week, there are risks involved when using social media, but if students embrace technology and take the opportunity to network with recruitment professionals, they may find that their future is at their fingertips.