66 • IMPACT • Engaging business through undergraduate placements Student Experience SECTION HEADING and Alumni
Engaging business through undergraduate placements 70 talented Business School students, every year
Alex McNinch Placement Manager
As part of their undergraduate degree programme, each year around 70 Business School students spend a year away from Durham working in an organisation on a business placement. This is an optional component of all the School’s undergraduate degree programmes and takes place after second year, prior to the final year of study. Preparation for a placement year starts in the students’ first year and continues through to the end of second year with a series of briefing sessions, panels with students returning from placements, workshops and mock interviews conducted by recruiting organisations such as IBM, L’Oréal and PricewaterhouseCoopers, who coach our students to perform at their best in challenging assessment centre and interview situations. In this process, they are supported by the School’s Placement Team: Placement Manager Alex McNinch and Associate Professor in Accounting and Employability Co-ordinator Jan Loughran. Early in the
Philip Warwick Associate Professor
autumn, Jan organises a ‘boot camp’ to help placement applicants develop their CV, interpersonal and interview skills etc. and to start the process of making placement applications. Nearly all students who actively engage with the support provided are successful in obtaining a placement. These can be in a wide range of organisations from manufacturers like Nissan, retailers such as Aldi and TJX (TK Maxx), large service organisations like Hilton and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, online businesses such as ASOS, investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley; other financial services companies like GE Capital, high street banks and big four accountants, software developers, pharmaceutical companies such as GSK, consultancy organisations such as SAP and other large global business including Warner Brothers and HP Enterprise. There are also some public sector opportunities in the civil service, government agencies and the Bank of England, plus some students have been able to arrange placements in other countries around the globe. International students can undertake a placement as part of a four-year study visa. Placement students are generally paid and in the region of £15,000 to £25,000.
