Placement Year

mdixson

mdixson

mdixson

Associate
Joined
30 May 2004
Posts
895
Location
Northamptonshire
Well bascilly just looking to see if anyone can help me out getting a placement sorted for July 08 - Sep 09.
I'm doing Network Computing (Bsc Hons) at Staffordshire Uni and I need to get a placement sorted out for the 3rd year of my sandwich course.
Firgured that people on here would have some good links in industry and was wondering if any companies spring to mind that would be in the London area (pref) that would be willing to offer an industrial placement that would be relevent to the above degree.
Might be a long shot, but hey thanks for any help in advance :)
 
I think it's a nice try (and it made me chuckle) but you won't get a placement by making a quick 5 minute post on a forum and then sitting back.

Try contacting your University, they should have a placement list somewhere and if not you need to start doing some research into jobs in the area you are interested in.

It's a hard slog to get a decent placement job having done one myself during my Undergraduate degree. Requires lots of time and patience, many placements aren't sorted until June time however you must start applying now. End of February and most of the big players will have filled vacancies.
 
lol you've left it very late mate, you'll be hard pressed to find one unless you apply to anything and everything. I'm from Staffs uni and working at a company called OpenGI on placement, the application form is on the placement website. It's a software development company though, so dunno if it's what your into doing.
 
My advice is just to send as many letters to as many companies as possible. I'm at Staffs and I ended up being a IT technician at a high school, it was great + money was awesome :)

Placement team didn't help at all though, had to do everything myself pretty much (the only thing they did was checked my "PAT" form or whatever it was called).
 
I ended up applying for the company I worked for (Air France in Paris :cool:)even later than you... although I did have other things in the pipeline which fell through just at the same time that the position I got became available.
 
Best thing would be to talk to your uni really. failing that I would hit the London stock market and search through the top 250 companies and mail all of them.
 
The Staffs university placement team was VERY helpful in my case, they got me my placement at HP. I literally didnt even apply, they put me forward and organised it all for me.

However the other people that sorted their placements, on the whole, did so by being dogged and applying for literally every single opportunity they could. If you don't get a placement they will sometimes let you progress to your final year anyway, personally though I really would try hard. It was a very valuable experience for me, and also a nice way to earn enough money so I didnt have to take out my final years loan.

Have you made a meeting with the placement team? If not that would be my first point of call. Go to them with enthusiasm, not "well i need a placement and cba finding one, can you do it?"

Also, dont forget to look at the larger companies job websites, they often list placements in amongst their normal jobs. I know HP do for example, they have a very good placement scheme and a good job search engine. Also have good relations with Staffs. As do Microsoft and Cisco and IBM (as starting points).
 
manic_man said:
The Staffs university placement team was VERY helpful in my case, they got me my placement at HP. I literally didnt even apply, they put me forward and organised it all for me.

However the other people that sorted their placements, on the whole, did so by being dogged and applying for literally every single opportunity they could. If you don't get a placement they will sometimes let you progress to your final year anyway, personally though I really would try hard. It was a very valuable experience for me, and also a nice way to earn enough money so I didnt have to take out my final years loan.

Have you made a meeting with the placement team? If not that would be my first point of call. Go to them with enthusiasm, not "well i need a placement and cba finding one, can you do it?"

Also, dont forget to look at the larger companies job websites, they often list placements in amongst their normal jobs. I know HP do for example, they have a very good placement scheme and a good job search engine. Also have good relations with Staffs. As do Microsoft and Cisco and IBM (as starting points).
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Off topic but, where you based in bracknell and will you be going back? I am joining HP on the C&I graduate scheme in September.
 
Welshy said:
lol you've left it very late mate, you'll be hard pressed to find one unless you apply to anything and everything. I'm from Staffs uni and working at a company called OpenGI on placement, the application form is on the placement website. It's a software development company though, so dunno if it's what your into doing.
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February isn't that late really. I applied for some placements that closed as late as May and June when I was placement hunting, 2 of which I was offered when I applied in February. I even know people who got on placements as late as September and October.
 
Im currently on my work placement, im doing the exact same course as you Network Computing (Bsc Hons) I work in School and its pretty decent in all fairness. Shame is i dont want to go back to Uni, I wanna keep earning :p
 
Okay to clarify; I have already put out a lot of letters/emails. This was just another way of getting some names of companies that people think would be applicable to the course I am doing.
 
TomWilko said:
I think it's a nice try (and it made me chuckle) but you won't get a placement by making a quick 5 minute post on a forum and then sitting back.

Try contacting your University, they should have a placement list somewhere and if not you need to start doing some research into jobs in the area you are interested in.

It's a hard slog to get a decent placement job having done one myself during my Undergraduate degree. Requires lots of time and patience, many placements aren't sorted until June time however you must start applying now. End of February and most of the big players will have filled vacancies.
Click to expand...
What he said!

I've been looking and doing my research since October and I've put in a crap load of effort and I've scored a spot at BMW, with their Software Engineering division. The spot is yet to be put in concrete, so I'm 90% in there. Waiting until end of Feb for their HR to sort stuff out. It took 2 interviews, a crap load of research, writing the best application form I've ever wrote in my life and so much preparation.

IF you truly want a good placement, anyone can get one with patience and perseverance. FACT.

Hasn't your university got placement office? I'd try a number of large companies but many seem to have started closing their spots as most have been filled.
 
Goatyman said:
Off topic but, where you based in bracknell and will you be going back? I am joining HP on the C&I graduate scheme in September.
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No I was actually a technical member of a HR department that has since been disbanded, half of them were based in Bracknell, half in Warrington. I tended to work mostly in Warrington but sometimes went to Bracknell or maybe Reading.

The bracknell building is v nice, lots of good facilities and brilliant eaing facilities.

I may consider HP in the future, but im currently doing a PhD, so if I DO go back, it'll likely to be Bristol at their R&D lab (incidently this was my favourite building of them all, brilliant place!)

Really i have moved away from the sort of career HP offer, but had I not, I would definately have looked up HP yeah.

Generally a friendly company I found who put quite a bit of effort into their graduate scheme. If it hasn't changed much then you may even get a chance to help hire your replacement :)
 
Wow I never knew asking for a few Companies suggestions would cause such a response.
I am in the stages of sorting my placement currently; with a large company called Veolia, at one of their sites.
The idea behind the post is due to the Uni wanting us to have as many backup's in case the above fall's through for any reason. So I wanted to have my CV out to as many companies as possible; as they said its better to have to turn down interviews than have nothing at all...

Thanks for the odd positive comment and hi to all the peps from Staffs that have posted :D
 
mdixson said:
Wow I never knew asking for a few Companies suggestions would cause such a response.
I am in the stages of sorting my placement currently; with a large company called Veolia, at one of their sites.
The idea behind the post is due to the Uni wanting us to have as many backup's in case the above fall's through for any reason. So I wanted to have my CV out to as many companies as possible; as they said its better to have to turn down interviews than have nothing at all...

Thanks for the odd positive comment and hi to all the peps from Staffs that have posted :D
Click to expand...
Don't take it personal, it's just the way the post come across.

Wish you the best with your placement hunt.

I have to sort out a backup in case BMW falls through, panic time!
 
Yeah that was my thought; I was all happy with how it was going then it occured that at any point something could change and it all fall through so along with the other companies that I have interviews lined up with I thought I better at a bit more redundancy... just in case!
 
Blast from the past, but if your still after a placement I might be able to help you out.

Pop your msn or email address down here if so.
 
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