How do uni placements work?

Question

You know if you're doing a course in uni and in the 3rd year, you opt for the placement, how does that work? E.g. If someone is doing a business-related degree (Logistics Management) course and they go on a placement in their 3rd year,

- where do they/could they go?

- do they get paid?

- how long do they have to be there for?

- when do they have to get it all sorted out by? Say uni starts again in Oct, would it be too late to sort out the placement now or do they still have time to sort it out?

- when does the placement usually start, Sept? Oct? Nov?

- do the placements usually be in another city/country?

- what kind of places could they get a placement with if they are studying in the Logistics field?

- what kind of work/assignments related to their degree do thet have to do?

- is the placement year their final year or do they have to a year after it aswell?

Sooorrrryyy it's soo long but I'd really like to know please, thanks so much God bless ya xx

Answer 1

On some courses placements form an integral part of the course - for example if after obtaining a degree you decide you want to teach and do a PGCE you will do a number of unpaid placements.

However I think you are talking about sandwich degree courses where a placement means working for a company to gain real world experience during your course. This can be for a number of short periods or for a whole year, for which you will probably get paid. You get experience the company gets your services for less money than they would pay for a graduate. Students that are being sponsored usually do placements with their sponsors.

The exact date the placement starts would depend on you and the company, it is just like a real job.

If the course you are doing has an optional placement and you want to do a placement but you haven't got it sorted out by the end of the previous academic year I would say that you have left it too late because in your final year you will want to be certain about things like accomodation and even if your uni is okay about it I would say that you don't want anything messing about with your studies. When you finish your placement you come back and do your final year.

A placement can take place anywhere. My ex-wife did her placement in Germany (while studying at a UK university). In this respect they can be a real opportunity. I did mine in Nottingham about twenty miles from my university.

Your university will want to be sure that the work you do is relevant to your degree and you will have to write up some of it to show what you have been up to. Your uni. will let you know what you have to do.

If you have a choice about doing a placement then these are some of the things I think you should consider:

Pro's: Gives you real world experience which might help you get a job when you finish uni.; if your placement is with a larger company they might take you on after uni. and you know what they are like. Even if you don't enjoy your placement you will find out about the kind of job you enjoy maing it more likely you wont take a job you can't stand when you leave university.

Con's: Taking time out can get you out of good studying habits; when you get back to uni. you can feel left out because staff in your department and thus possibly some of the options available have changed and because you have been away you are out of touch with clubs and societies you had been in. In the long term you may find that doing a placement doesn't enhance the salary you get after uni. in which case in the mid term you will earn more by not doing a placement.

Hope this was useful.

Answer 2

The answer above is useful, but there's a few things that I feel should be added.

1) It's up to you where you go really. If there's a company in particular that you want to work for, it's worth going to their website and checking under the careers section whether they do placements. If not listed, it's worth emailing them to find out more - keep pestering til they give a reply!

2) Most placements are paid. It does depend though - you can either do a short-term placement, say just for the summer holidays - it's possible that you would get paid for this. If it's just a 2 week work experience placement, then it's doubtful. However, if it's a whole year out in industry, then you should get paid. The payment varies from company to company but it's usually somewhere between £8,000 and £18,000 (some do offer more though)

3) This is kind of answered in the above. Different companies offer different schemes. With something like Business - I think it's more common to undertake an entire year out in industry, although that's not to say that an 8 week placement wouldn't come in extremely handy. It's up to you really, contact the company and find out what's best for them and you

4) Most schemes open for applications around September of the previous year. For example, schemes starting in 2009 will have their opening dates this september. Deadlines can be anywhere between December and February - so it's a good idea to apply as soon as possible. You should also spend time making it a good application as these placements can be very competitive, so you should really sell yourself!

5) Placements usually start in June/July if they're just for the summer. If they're year long placements then they usually start in september, around the same time that term usually starts. Individual companies will have their own starting dates though, so make sure you do plenty of research

6) You can opt to take part in a placement overseas. Most will be in this country, but there are some opportunities to work abroad. I would say that the best plan of action would be to google search for business companies in whatever country you're interested in. Then check out their websites to see if they look good and email them asking for more information.

7)There's so many places that you could possibly apply for with a subject in Business/logistics. Go onto the Times top 100 graduate employers, and I guarantee you that at least half of them will be good.

8) When you do go on a placement, it's much more about the company you're working for than your degree. They will ask you to do work that other employees are doing, and it could possibly have nothing to do with your degree. As long as you have an interest in the company and the work that they do, they will want you to work for them - even if it's not directly related to your degree subject!

9) The best time to look is after your first year of uni, so that you can apply and be accepted (hopefully!) onto the scheme the summer after you've completed your second year. They don't normally accept students who are in their third/final year, as they could just apply for a graduate scheme. Once they have completed their year out, they will need to return to University to complete the last year of their degree

Also, it's not the WHOLE point that they could work there afterwards... the experience you gain from a placement is invaluable - it will look fantastic on your CV and set you apart fom the masses of applications that employers receive. It's also a great opportunity to get experience in what you want to do, and find out if it's right for you.

PLUS, you could end up earning a nice tidy sum of money!

Any other questions, feel free to e-mail me and I'll try my best to help you out. Good luck!