Placement year

Macky

Macky

Macky

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Joined
5 Apr 2009
Posts
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Location
West Midlands
I'm in my 2nd year at university studying mechanical engineering and have been applying for industrial placements for the last couple of months. I went to a job interview the other day and the next day got a call offering me the job. I'd attended one more interview prior to this an narrowly missed out on the position.

The company want me to formally give my decision by Friday as to whether I want the job. The job seems interesting but perhaps not as challenging as I would like. Seems to be focused on design and CAD work with little consideration for engineering science. The pay is about in line with all the other jobs (between 16-18k) for an industrial year with engineering. The location is fairly convenient as I have friends who live in the area.

My issue is that I have 2 more interviews/assessment days next week and have been invited to another assessment day in March. I believe that all of these jobs would offer slightly more challenging work but cannot be sure until I attend the interviews really. I plan to attend the interviews anyway just for good practice, but on the off-chance that I am offered another job I'll be in a tricky position. Is it wise to ask these employers if they can make a hasty decision, hinting at the fact I have another offer but not explicitly stating it?

What is the standard etiquette here? My plan was to accept this job offer as it would be stupid to turn it down with no other offers yet. I'm experiencing first hand how difficult it can be to obtain a placement. (applied to lots of companies) But what if I was then offered another job and decided I'd rather take it? Do companies consider the fact that I might have another offer lined up?
 
Normally i found when i went through this process (slightly different industry though) they asked during the interview if you had other interviews/offers on the table.

Unfortunately you're in a sticky situation, if you accept the offer, and then turn it down later because you have a better offer, then that obviously won't shine good light on you, and you never know who's path you may cross later on in your career that this choice may go against you.

On the other hand, you have a confirmed offer, and the possibility if you decline and not being successful in the other two interviews, you could be left with no placement secured.

I sense the doubt in your post when you mention the type of work involved is not what you were expecting? Is this how it was advertised - if so, what made you apply? If not, then speak with whomever would be managing you at the company about your concerns of the challenges tasked. They may prefer to start you off low to get an idea of your ability before passing on challenging work your way.

Some advice I always remember from placement is that you get out of your placement what you put into it.
 
Accept the offer, do the other two interviews and if you're successful with one of those, take one of those instead and let the first offer know you wont be attending.

They can't MAKE you work for them ;)
 
amigafan2003 said:
Accept the offer, do the other two interviews and if you're successful with one of those, take one of those instead and let the first offer know you wont be attending.

They can't MAKE you work for them ;)
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This.

As others have said in other threads about jobs, its all about looking after yourself.
 
Id wait for other interviews to pass or accept the first verbally then go to them. No point in getting a mech eng degree to do cad
 
Accept verbally, do the other interviews, tell them you have an offer on the table already, and would appreciate a fast answer. Sign the conract of the best offer.
 
Take the job, I had the same issue (literally the same, even a cad post) during my hnd, turned them down and guess what? My remaining applications all fell through. Im in the same boat as you at the minute and I accepted my first offer and cancelled the rest (ironically a cad post but better work and better pay than the hnd one)

Getting a placement isnt easy, dont be complacent man youll regret it like I did
 
adolf hamster said:
Take the job, I had the same issue (literally the same, even a cad post) during my hnd, turned them down and guess what? My remaining applications all fell through. Im in the same boat as you at the minute and I accepted my first offer and cancelled the rest (ironically a cad post but better work and better pay than the hnd one)

Getting a placement isnt easy, dont be complacent man youll regret it like I did
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on the flip side of this, not sure if you can avoid doing a placement year? It makes getting a graduate job easier however, you could graduate a year early, try harder for graduate job and get a job that pays 25k+ (ie circa 10k more). Depends how competitive a field you want to go into.

(there are also summer placements etc? If the experience isn't great it will delay graduate pay by 1 year, however normally it's good on the cv)
 
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The fact that I have pretty much NO work experience at all is the reason I want to do a placement. It's not part of my degree but I just think it will benefit me in the future. I'd like to think I could learn a fair bit from a year in work too.

There is no downside to doing it really. Yes I could finish my degree a year earlier and potentially be on ~25k but I think taking a placement year will mature me in many ways, teach me lots of new things in the workplace related and not related to engineering.

The whole process as well is going to help me massively in the future. Never written a CV, cover letter, etc. I'd never had an interview before this and never been to an assessment day so these will feel more natural when applying for a graduate job.

Thanks for the responses. I'll keep you posted.
 
amigafan2003 said:
Accept the offer, do the other two interviews and if you're successful with one of those, take one of those instead and let the first offer know you wont be attending.

They can't MAKE you work for them ;)
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But do it in a very apologetic way and give a reason/excuse which gives the impression it is nothing to do with the place (i.e. if its closer, committments near to home) or just leave it vague at 'personal reasons', which isnt a lie.
 
Deus Ex said:
But do it in a very apologetic way and give a reason/excuse which gives the impression it is nothing to do with the place (i.e. if its closer, committments near to home) or just leave it vague at 'personal reasons', which isnt a lie.
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This, take the job you want (if those turn out better). Life's too short to get stuck in a crap job even as an intern :).

Good luck, I don't know about you but I wasnt enjoying my course and was considering dropping out of uni until I took a 12 month placement, best decision ever.
 
Doing a placement really is a must - in my field (Computer science). Here the graduate schemes are VERY competitive, the top blue chip companies get thousands that apply for their grad schemes. People without work experience even if scoring a 1st class degree stand literally no chance of getting onto these schemes. The companies have too much choice they can afford to be very picky.
 
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Macky said:
The fact that I have pretty much NO work experience at all is the reason I want to do a placement. It's not part of my degree but I just think it will benefit me in the future. I'd like to think I could learn a fair bit from a year in work too.

There is no downside to doing it really. Yes I could finish my degree a year earlier and potentially be on ~25k but I think taking a placement year will mature me in many ways, teach me lots of new things in the workplace related and not related to engineering.

The whole process as well is going to help me massively in the future. Never written a CV, cover letter, etc. I'd never had an interview before this and never been to an assessment day so these will feel more natural when applying for a graduate job.

Thanks for the responses. I'll keep you posted.
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Yeah agreed it's good overall, just some food for thought. Good luck.
 
Semple said:
Doing a placement really is a must. I'm in the computer science field, and here graduate schemes are VERY competitive, the top blue chip companies get thousands that apply for their grad schemes. People without work experience even if scoring a 1st class degree stand literally no chance of getting onto these schemes. The companies have too much choice they can afford to be very picky.
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This is incorrect, it is not a *must* to get a mechanical engineering job however it's good experience
 
I've been through the same process as you for a mech eng placement.

The advice I would give is accept verbally, and go to the other interviews and see if they offer anything.
In my experience it takes a few weeks for them to sort out contracts etc. so gives you time to go to the other interviews. It's quite standard for placement/grad jobs to accept verbally then take something else, it's just once you sign the contract you've got to stick with it.
 
I'd like to echo it is pretty much a must in Computer Engineering aswell. On top of that it's great experience and a nice break from education, plus cash money!
 
A placement is good because it answers questions like "what kind of environment might I be happy working in?" "is this the right career path for me?" "am I actually going to get interesting work in this field?" "are people actually happy working here?" "what kind of stuff is worth studying in my final year?" etc., etc.
 
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