Placements

Students wishing to find placements as part of their course may be able to find employers in the northeast of England who are able to help. Demand for places is high, so it is recommended that students begin seeking places early in the academic year. Your university careers office may be able to give you some information about companies that have offered placements in the past and you can find companies that operate in the sector by following the link to our member’s area. Some of their websites will provide advice on placements, including times when they recruit students onto their programmes.

NEPIC might also be able to help you to find an employer that can provide you with a placement.

Placements may last from a short period of a couple of weeks, a slightly extended period of around 3 months, or may even last a full year. It is important that, before you apply for a placement, you have considered certain points:

• How long should your placement last?
• Does it need to provide specialist experience that is relevant to your course?
• What are you looking to get out of the placement (e.g. specific learning outcomes, general experience of the world of work etc.)?
• Is there a particular geographical location that would suit you best?
• Where would you live?
• How would you travel to the site?
• What links would your university want with the employer and how would this work in practice?
• What particular skills would you bring to the company?

When you have addressed these you need to consider writing your outline application for a placement. You should treat this as any application for work and need to make sure that you give the company sufficient information for them to make a sound initial judgement of you. Your application needs to contain all relevant information but should be concise - yours might be one of a hundred or more applications so you need to give it the best chance of being selected. Please try to avoid having a “humorous” email address - it might not seem as funny to a potential employer as it does to your friends!

You may be asked to give an interview, either by telephone or in person. Be prepared to answer questions about your course, career ambitions and experience. Also expect stock questions about what the company does, why you want to spend time with them and why you are more suited to the placement than any other applicant. Don’t be afraid to rehearse these sorts of questions with your friends.