Engineering placement

dbeckett

dbeckett

dbeckett

Associate
Joined
11 Mar 2005
Posts
365
I am currently a second year student studying MEng electrical and electronic engineering and I'm heading for a first Honours degree. I've just got an offer to work for a company next year(12 months) for my placement year, I accepted their conditional offer by telephone but nothing has been signed contract wise. The company has around 1,500 employees and I'll be based in their embedded generation business(i.e making sure their generators are maintained around the country), here is the letter they've sent me(with the useless info deleted).

The following terms and conditions will attach to your appointment:

1. Your salary will be £11,407 per annum.
(and is subject to appropriate deductions in respect of National Insurance and tax.)

2. Your employment is subject to an initial probationary period of 3 months.

3. You will not be entitled to any paid sick leave other than the statutory requirements.

4. Holiday entitlement is 20 days per annum and will be earned at the rate of one-twelfth days for each completed calendar month of service. You will be paid for the 11 Public Holidays as they occur, whilst employed.

5. The appointment will be terminable by one week’s notice in writing on either side.

6. The normal hours of duty will be Monday to Friday, 37 hours per week.

Since this is my first proper job I'm kinda wondering if any of you guys could help me, is it just me or is the £11,407 salary a few £1,000s low? I'm just thinking that working in Tescos for that number of hours could get me the same amount of salary and this job has a lot more responsibility and knowledge needed, can I or should I be thinking of asking for more or do you think it would be unwise?
 
For an industrial placement, I think you're lucky to have a job at all. Remember that the point of the placement isn't to earn money it's to gain experience.
 
Seems low. I study Chemical Engineering and did my placement last year - most people on my course doing placements earnt between ~£15,000-22,000 a year.
 
[TW]Fox;16185488 said:
It's about £3000 less than I got for my placement - and I finished that over 2 years ago!
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I get a few thousand more than the OP. I am sponsored £1000 per year at uni and if I return as a grad then over 5 years they repay my tuition fees. Also the student house is heavily subsidised.

The OP is getting done up the doggy door, as Tesco (£6.66 an hour @ 36.5 hours per week is £12640 per year).

I am an engineer too. Most engineering placements pay £15,000-£20,000 I have found. I get paid less this year but the overall package is more than adequate.

Where do you study? What you do is just as important as where you do it!

EDIT: Also that 1 week notice for termination would worry me! Unless it is something you really want, don't bother.
 
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I'm currently studying in Belfast, Northern Ireland but my course is top5 in the country(according to a certain newspaper), the company that offered me the job had few applications, mostly cause no-one in my course wants to do electrical as it ain't as interesting as electronic, the company even had to extend their deadline by 2weeks and only got a total of 5 applicants, they gave the job originally to my friend who declined and took up another offer(paying £14,000) leaving me and 3 others so I got the offer next, but I know I'm a lot better than any of the other applicants grade wise and capability wise.


I'm just thinking 11,500 is low to live on, when you sub in insurance and a car and everything else I'll need to buy to be able to do my placement year
 
I too was on around £14/15k on structural engineering placements a few years ago.

You'll not even be on £6ph; I'd ask for more. But at the end of the day, it's an engineering placement that will look better for your career and on your CV. Another job might pay more, but will it be as worthwhile? Depends on your priorities - money or experience.
 
if theyve got a good training/graduate scheme and you can afford to live on that much then its worth it

you use the experience to get the better jobs when you graduate

them offering a low salary probably means theres a lot of interest in them. they can afford to lose out on you. i know people doing fashion placements in london 10 hours a dau for free .supposedly thats normal
 
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But in all honesty the only reason I'm doing it is cause its been offered, I'm unsure if its the company I want to work for, I applied to a few other companies I would have loved to work for but didn't get it, and this company's graduate prospects ain't great, well... a its a Republic of Ireland company so they don't have a big department up North, however their owners also own Northern Ireland Electricity so I surpose that'll bring in plenty of contacts.

Would it do me any harm asking for more money?
 
Didn't do a placement myself but most of my friends were on £14-16k, £11.5 is literally minimum wage. It's crazy that you'll quite possibly end up doing exactly the same work as someone else being paid twice as much, but being a placement they can pay you what they want really.
 
It's an engineering placement. Engineering jobs don't pay well, at all. Yes you could earn far more at Tesco but it's the experience that's invaluable

I worked for an engineering placement during my degree and I earned £12k (with similar terms) and I was lucky enough to get a job offer

Hell, £22k for a placement? You'll never get that in engineering unfortunately. It's a sad fact of the UK - I would be earning twice what I am presently if I took a similar job in the States.

The experience is worth far more than the money. Just under £11.5k is OK to live on (if you're sharing with students like myself) and you'll find it far easier to get a job

Comparing myself at 25 (job prospects, salary) to my friends who didn't take the placement year (and some did a Masters degree) I am in a better position.

Take it and enjoy it :)
 
^ Agreed, I didn't do a placement year, and I wish I had...

You could say you need at least £13k to live on, otherwise you'll look elsewhere.

I'd rather work as trainee electrical engineer than stack shelves in Tesco however...
 
You can ask but they expect a no. Things are harder now than they were 2 years ago, they aren't going to pay a graduate wage for a placement year.
 
ajgoodfellow said:
Hell, £22k for a placement? You'll never get that in engineering unfortunately.
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Try working for BP/ExxonMobil as a Chemical Engineer. A few coursemates of mine did last year and got paid £22k on placement.

Obviously it's not the norm, most placements relating to my course paid around £15-17k a year.
 
I stand corrected. I had Electronic Engineering in mind and my personal experience - looks like Chemical Engineering is better paid, especially in the oil industry!
 
The company I am on placement with wanted me but had no money, two months later they decide they do have money:p
They were hit very hard in the recession. Things are picking up now though.

You have to look at the bigger picture. The salary on offer is pathetic, but do they repay some fees if you return as a graduate? Or do they pay for your rent? Or do they give you free meals at work? Or do they sponsor you at uni?

Even something silly like free meals at work makes a difference- £3 per day over an average working month of say 21 days is £84.

Is it an awesome company that will look awesome on the CV? (It may be a very sought after business to work for).

If they answer no to all the above, then for less than checkout-girl / burger-flipper / trolley-**** money, I would bin it.
 
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sh4rk said:
Try working for BP/ExxonMobil as a Chemical Engineer. A few coursemates of mine did last year and got paid £22k on placement.

Obviously it's not the norm, most placements relating to my course paid around £15-17k a year.
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I did a 9 week internship (so not quite proper placement) with a geophysics company and was on the equivilent of £19k, the job also included flights, travel, accommodation and food. Not bad for 6 weeks of actual working. However I think anything related to oil normally gets better than average wages.

Having said that from the friends I know that did placements most did engineering and were on a max of 15k, so the OP's is low but not that low. The experience should be invaluble though. A good reference will put you way above graduates who come out with a first even if you slip and end up with a 2:1 or even 2:2.
 
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