How do student placements work?

Are you worried about gaining work experience? When you finish university how will you stand out when applying for Graduate roles? I knew how competitive the Graduate market was. This was something I considered in my second year that drove me to apply for a student placement.

I spent my third year on a student placement. I highly recommend a year in Industry. Everyone should consider it! It is your chance to gain some fantastic working experience while you complete your degree.

I spent last year working for Virgin Media. This has been an amazing experience and has given me more opportunities than I could have ever imagined. Day-to-day I have been responsible for coaching off-shore partners in India and the Philippines and taking a communication lead on high scale projects. I have wrote nominations for national awards as well as internal communications to share key-information.

Now I am coming to the end of my student placement I have begun to reflect on the year and really appreciate the fantastic opportunity I have had. I have built knowledge, developed skills and grown into a more confident person. In the second year I was hesitant on whether a placement year was for me. I thought adding another year of study to my degree was delaying my completion of my course. Having now had the experience I can tell you that it is 110% worth it!

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Pernille Doxrud, MSc Project Management

In January 2015 I began studying an MSc. in Project Management. One of the reasons I chose to study at University of Salford Business School, was the possibility of a placement experience in a company whilst writing the dissertation. I believe that the practical work experience you can gain from this postgraduate programme is unique; it gives you a different angle on the dissertation, as well as possibly opening doors to permanent employment.

Higher Education courses widen your horizons, make you a more aware person. But, whilst education for general knowledge is helpful, practical work placement experience is getting more and more important in the competitive work environment. It is often challenging to find a first job after being a student for many years. A work placement will improve your CV and gives you an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

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