year in industry vs summer internship?

RandomTom

RandomTom

RandomTom

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Hi there,

In my 2nd year at university at the moment studying Business & Advertising, and the option of a placement year arose in talks a few weeks ago as well as the discussion of getting as much relevant experience as possible.

Weighing up pros and cons of the placement year or summer internship, I've kind of decided to go for the internship because I can stay with my girlfriend, will have some summer left to go to France (and work for 2-4 weeks) but the cons, am I missing out on a very valuable oppurtunity and career prospects?

To those with industry years under their belt, or even internships, what would you recommend? Is a 12 week placement worthwhile for the graduate market?

Ta.
 
Depends who it's with, but I found on my placement year that I didn't really start touching on anything useful until atleast 2 months in.
 
Do the placement - it's virtually essential. It's a proper job - you'll have a years proper real world working experience and this is absolutely invaluable.
 
[TW]Fox;12692979 said:
Do the placement - it's virtually essential. It's a proper job - you'll have a years proper real world working experience and this is absolutely invaluable.
Click to expand...

What grandad said :p
 
Any working experience in the industry you might go into after you graduate is good.
It gives employers the impression that this person has a certain drive and won't be like other fresh faced graduates with no "real world" working experience.

A short placement at a top 5 company in your market, may be better than a year stint somewhere else. Purely having a well recognised name on the CV always does wonders.

In terms of which is better that's dependant on the profile of the hiring company, the location and what you want do. If you want to work in that area and you'll be doing work that interest you then choose that. All things being equal, having a year to relax before the final crunch was quite nice.
 
Year out pros:

Make loads of money for a student.
Get loads of experience.
Potential job at the end of the degree if you make a good impression, or even sponsorship.

Cons:

When you go back, you won't be in the same year as you current coursemates.
You could end up hating it, not that it would be impossible to leave, it would just be a bit hard to end the commitment.

+ whatever your personal situation dictates.

I started a YINI, hated it, left within 2 months, did a part time job for the rest of the year, then went to uni.
 
Full year placement by a long shot. But I enjoyed mine and although work for a different company now then when I did the placement, it is in the same market. Like what Fox said, best thing you can do while at uni that will help you get a job faster at the end. Start looking now.
 
[TW]Fox;12692979 said:
Do the placement - it's virtually essential. It's a proper job - you'll have a years proper real world working experience and this is absolutely invaluable.
Click to expand...

It's not essential, although very, very useful at the beginning of your career. You're far more likely to walk out of university straight in to a reasonably well paid job.
 
I did a YINI, I'm very glad I did, got a job offer from the company for when I finish uni, and it's somewhere I enjoy working, and it seems I'm the only one on my course at uni with work experience relevant to my degree, and everyone is having trouble finding jobs as they are constantly getting turned down for having no work experience. At the time though I was only getting minimum wage, which isn't brilliant, but I should be able to walk into a job which I'm hoping will be paying about 20k a year, so not too bad I guess. I did it before starting uni, so I wasn't worried about not knowing any people in the year below, although it turns out that abut 70% of the people on my course had done a foundation year anyway, so were already in groups of friends, although that wasn't an issue anyway, even for me and at the time I was painfully shy.

Of course, any work experience is better than none, but I'd say get as much as you can, although at the end of the day, it's only a job, if it'd require sacrificing other things than time, then I'd not be so keen.
 
The year in industry can be very useful, I still occasionally use the experience I got there on my CV and in interviews. However, the most import thing I learnt from mine was what I didn't want to do as a career.
 
That possibility of a job offer afterwards is not just a plus for placement years, internships usually also have a job offer at the end.. as it's more or less the reason why they are offering them.

I did an internship this summer, loved it and have got a job now with them when I finish uni :D

Which you should do depends on what you want to do personally really, and what's on offer. Internships are a smaller commitment if it's something you're unsure about and fit in the summer so you get to stay in the same year as all your friends. However a placement is likely to give you a broader depth of experience, especially if there's some form of rotation in it.

Overall I'd think they both look good on your CV, and even in the 8 or so weeks of a summer internship you should be able to get a good idea of both what that role is like and experience working in a "proper" job.
 
I'm not fussed about being there a year after people I know have left, it's mainly being with my girlfriend, as she sees it as we'd have to break up, and I don't want that.

I'm thinking summer internship 8 weeks, 2 weeks shadowing/exp at christmas, 2-4 weeks in france working in summer and find a 1 day a week job in an office somewhere here at uni.

I'd love to do a placement but it's not feasible for our relationship, and I kind of agree, and she's who I want to be with, so hmm.

I don't want to end up regretting it too much, but it's a choice of a placement vs serious relationship. I'm hoping an internship isn't too little of a detriment to my graduate recruitment possibilities.
 
Not much difference between the two in real terms, my girlfriend got a job as an actuary at PWC from an internship. It only really makes a difference if you're not planning for working with the company you do the placement with.
 
Had a talk last week and the average stats for my department was that ~80% of people who do a year out get straight into a job, compared to ~60% who don't do a year. And the average pay was around 5 grand higher for somebody in a graduate job who did do the year compared to those that didn't.

They said it is very hard to see why you wouldn't take the year out.
 
I disagree with everyone and as we all know, that means I'm correct.

I done an internship and my friend done a year out. Both with KPMG. I think mine was the most beneficial because the internship didn't mean I'd lose a year of uni so I'd graduate sooner, qualify sooner and so, be on more money.

Put it this way. A year at crappy wage then graduate or a year of good wages after you graduate.
 
My boyfriend just graduated with a chemical engineering degree, and there were a mix of people who had done a DIT (year in industry), summer placements or nothing at all. None of the people who had experience had any problems getting a job, and it didn't seem to make a difference whether they had done the DIT or worked in the summers after 3rd and 4th year.

The only people who struggled to get jobs were the ones who didn't have experience or connections, as both things make a huge difference in industry.
 
[TW]Fox;12692979 said:
Do the placement - it's virtually essential. It's a proper job - you'll have a years proper real world working experience and this is absolutely invaluable.
Click to expand...

I've no doubt it's pretty damn useful but I'd argue against it being anywhere near virtually essential. I know personal anecdotes are of little use but I got my job with only two weeks use in the relevant field and I'd say it's a similar story for a lot of people in my intake. Some sort of work experience is definitely a big plus but I wouldn't rule out the benefits of things like playing team sports/captaincy either.
 
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