A Little Careers Chat

A little career chat...

Securing Summer 2020 Work Experience Now!

Written by Vianna Renaud Designed by Kayla Annakie

Welcome to the new year and with that, one must get an action plan going for this summer, particularly for all of you first year students who are thinking about undertaking a placement experience next year. If you are a second year student unsure about deciding between the short or long sandwich placement, you need to have a serious think to plan your best way forward ASAP. As a BU student you are lucky that there are so many resources available to students, however the responsibility still falls on you to take advantage of them. With upcoming course deadlines coming up too, life is bound to get more complicated so save yourself some grief by just putting aside a few minutes each day so that you can stay on top of everything.

So, to help you do it right, here are a few tips.

1. Get on your LinkedIn. In the past, students have been

known to receive offers of paid sandwich placements by posting that they were looking on LinkedIn. If you have worked hard at expanding your network, this could very well work for you. Not to mention some companies will only post positions on LinkedIn so definitely use the search engine for possible internships and positions. 2. Make MyCareerHub your new best friend. Everyday there are new opportunities being posted so do check it. 3. Book in with your Faculty Placement Coordinator to have your CV and cover letter checked. So many students think everything is fine until it’s too late. Don’t let it be you. 4. Stop by the Edge and speak to Employability and Careers staff. Once again, sometimes it is best to gain advice from the experts so take any uncertainties out of the

equation and just stop by the Edge. 5. Talk to your network and spread the word that you are actively looking for opportunities. There is no shame in asking your family and family friends for any possible leads. Get the word out there as, remember, you would rather have more options than fewer. And timing is absolutely critical. 6. Check Indeed.com on a regular basis. More and more students are finding placements this way so do use this as a key resource. 7. Find out more about your potential placement companies on Rate My Placement. This is always a great resource to see what other students thought of their placement company, and how their experience was, so have a look for reference. Any information that you can use to best support you in making the decision of taking a p l a c e m e n t or not is important. 8. Don’t forget that you can go for a real job. Just because ‘Placement’ isn’t in the title doesn’t mean it won’t work. Lots of students take up roles as ‘Assistants’ which could work well for your particular course and placement requirements. N