Business Management – Page 6 – Undergraduate Blog

Choose a placements for a degree with employment experience

By David Chamberlain

Hi Guys!
First of all let me introduce myself. My name is David and I am a 4th year BA Business Management student. If you are wondering why I am still here after four amazing years in Sheffield, it is because I took the option to extend my degree to include a placement year.
Placements at Sheffield are not mandatory like you might see at other Universities. This really gives you the freedom to decide to do a placement once you have found your feet with your studies and is just one of many options that allow you to add value to your degree. Taking a year out is not for everybody, so it is important to decide whether you’d prefer an internship or a placement. I opted to do a placement year because I felt that it would give me a more in-depth experience of the company that I joined. Also, I wanted the experience of moving away for a year, with a salary and a real level of responsibility, and it duly delivered.
I moved to London for my third year to work with one of the leading providers of consumer insight to the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market. Working within a Global Business Development team, I got to develop first-hand the skills that I had been learning about from an academic perspective but also developed the real practical expertise that you don’t get until you are in the workplace. The level of responsibility I was given was amazing, and I learnt so much from my exposure to senior colleagues and clients. I worked with some of the biggest brands across the world, such as Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo and Twinings. This kind of exposure is something you can really talk about to make yourself standout in the graduate market. The area I found most interesting was working with large sets of data and then being tasked with making real business recommendations to clients. The whole “London experience” is something that I really enjoyed, and there is no better time to do it than whilst at University. It serves as a good indication as to whether you could move there when you graduate and shows you what you might look for in terms of location.
I think now that I am back for my final year I have matured as a student much more because of my placement. I am far more organised now than I would have been before and it has allowed me to really tackle the rigours of what is quite a demanding final year, and also think about what I want to achieve after University as well.
I recommend having a good think in your first year about what you want from your degree, look at the different options in detail and then work out which is best for you. For me, it was a placement and I hope I have helped explain some of the benefits!

Broaden your horizons with a semester abroad

By Francesca Hall

At the University of Sheffield you will be encouraged to not only excel in your studies, setting you up with a degree from one of the top University’s in the country, but to take on a host of extra activities and opportunities that will set you even further apart in the competitive world of employment.
As I enter my final term at the University of Sheffield on my three year Business Management course I can safely say my University experience has exceeded all my expectations. I remember clearly the first day I arrived into Sheffield, a car full of clothes, bedding, and empty notebooks, and with it a tonne of nerves and excitement. Having read every student review about the University of Sheffield that I could get my hands on (thank you ‘whatuni.com’!) I had high hopes for what lay ahead. Two and a half years later, I have not been disappointed.
What has surprised me most -beyond the hospitality of the locals, the quality of teaching and facilities, and how there is a society for every activity you could imagine- is how the University itself has gone above and beyond duty, offering me so much more than just classroom learning. I have found myself frequently inundated with opportunities to do exciting new things, and taken-up many, but the one which has had the most profound effect on my life is studying abroad.
In my second year, with ‘YES’ as my go-to word, I embarked upon a five month adventure studying a semester at Copenhagen Business School as part of the University’s Erasmus programme. Towards the tail-end of January I once more packed my life up into suitcases, and boarded my flight into the unknown territory of snowy Copenhagen. The first week was terrifying and overwhelming as I realised the magnitude of what I had signed myself up for (5 months and over a thousand miles from home) but my nerves quickly dissipated as the floods of new faces became friends and this alien city grew to become home.
Studying at Copenhagen Business School -one of many prestigious universities the Management School is partners with, and living in Denmark’s capital was an incredible experience. Whilst I wasn’t so keen on the three hour classes or the four hour exams, I seized the opportunity to immerse myself in a new way of learning, grateful to explore my passion for business through a different array of modules. Trying to settle down and study with the sunshine and city calling your name was definitely learning curve, but with a work-hard, play-hard approach I had the most wholesome experience I could have asked for. Copenhagen itself is a stunning city, vibrant, packed full of culture, with so much to see and do. I have an abundance of fond memories, from city strolls and bike rides, canoeing on the canal, and enjoying the Tivoli gardens and Lousiana, to partying at Kulørbar, eating Smørrebrød at Torvehallerne, and enjoying good company by the canal on a warm evening. However, whilst I can’t imagine a city more fantastic to study abroad in than Copenhagen, if it’s not your cup of tea, you can take your pick from the University of Sheffield’s other partner universities across Europe, in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands or Sweden. Not to mention, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the USA if you choose to study International Business Management!
To say that studying abroad changes your life is no understatement. I have made life-long friendships with an array of amazing people from across the globe, experienced life in another culture, and studied with a further fantastic university. With it, I have returned to Sheffield with more self-confidence, patience, awareness, and as clichéd as it may sound, I have grown as an individual beyond measure. I feel eternally grateful to the University of Sheffield and the Management School for giving me the opportunities that I have had, and without their continual support it would not have been possible.
I hope you too will have a fantastic time studying at the University of Sheffield. If I had to give you one piece of advice it would be, to say yes often, and push yourself to do something new. If you do that I guarantee you’ll be leaving University with more than just a degree to show for it!

What does our Triple Crown accreditation mean for you?

By Alex Martinsmith

The Triple Crown Accreditation is something we are incredibly proud of at the Management School. It gives a mark of quality to the level of teaching here at Sheffield from three different accrediting bodies from around the world. Here’s a quick breakdown of the awards:

AACSB – The Associate to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business – An American based body that is regarded as the benchmark for high quality business school education.

AMBA – The Association of MBA’s – UK based body that accredits postgraduate management education and focuses on a business school’s MBA portfolio rather than undergraduate programmes.

EQUIS – European Quality Improvement System – Accredits management schools based on their general quality of education, specifically focusing on their level of internationalization.

As a comparison, attaining these accreditations is somewhat equivalent to achieving an ‘Outstanding’ award by OFSTED 3 times over. These awards are highly prestigious and are only held by 67 business schools out of the total 13,670 worldwide. These awards are not just awarded and then kept forever either: the accreditation bodies frequently return to ensure that Sheffield Management School is retaining its outstanding levels of teaching.

Triple Crown Accreditation is important to students for many reasons. Personally, it shows me that the University can be trusted to deliver the best quality of education when it comes to my degree. Also, future employers understand the importance of these accreditations. When employing graduates, Triple Crown Accreditation shows employers that candidates have been taught to an outstanding level.

Gaining work experience with a year in industry

By Lucy Grimes

It wasn’t until I began my second year of study at the University of Sheffield Management school that I considered undertaking a placement as part of my degree. With so many employers on campus and careers events happening throughout the year, I began to think about the future and what I wanted to do. And it wasn’t long before I realised I had absolutely no idea! Having done bits of work experience in finance and accounting, and deciding it definitely wasn’t for me, I thought that the only way I was going to gain a better understanding of what I wanted to do in the future was by having a go, which is what led me to the decision to apply for a placement.

As I wasn’t certain which area of business I wanted to go in to, I searched for placements which offered a varied programme, and decided to apply for some retail management programmes. I was offered interviews with both Lidl and Marks and Spencer, two very different retailers. Having attended both of their assessment days, I was keen to secure the M&S placement. One thing that I learned at this stage was how important it is to work for a company whose values and ideas are in line with your own. I was very lucky to be offered the role at M&S, and signed my contract shortly afterwards.

Before the end of second year the Management School holds a pre-placement briefing which gives you an idea of what to expect and really helped to calm my nerves and worries about what to do if things aren’t as you expect. I began my placement in September 2013, and luckily had no problems.

The first few weeks were all about introducing you to the business, to retail, and getting to know the people you would be working with. This really helped me to settle in, and one thing I would say to anybody beginning a placement is to use this time to ask as many silly questions as you can! It’s better to make sure you understand things early on than to come unstuck later in the year.

After my induction period I began my first rotation as a trainee Food Commercial Manager. This involved training across two different stores, a premier store and a smaller Simply Food store. Moving around like this really helped me to gain confidence in working with and managing new teams. I also built some really great relationships during my time out of my base store which really helped me as I progressed through my placement, networking is definitely one of the biggest benefits from doing a placement year in my opinion.

After my Food rotation I was exposed to many other areas of the business such as Hospitality Management, Finance and Operations, Visual Merchandising, and General Merchandise. The variety of my placement was what I enjoyed the most; I got to work with many different teams, focus on different aspects of managing a business, and also develop different personal skills at every stage.

For my final attachment I was appointed Project Manager of the opening of a brand new pop-up school wear store. It was the first time this had ever been done in the business, and a fantastic opportunity for me to take full responsibility for a project from start to finish, recruiting a new team and working with Head Office to ensure the store was a success. Although a little daunting and requiring a lot of hard work, it was an amazing project to be a part of and gave me great exposure to areas of the business I hadn’t come across before. I loved every minute of it!

At the end of my programme I was offered a job with the company after Graduation, which I happily accepted. This has taken a lot of pressure off me in my final year, as I am able to fully concentrate on my studies without worrying about applications, interviews and jobs as well as deadlines and exams! And one thing which I have definitely found is that the work I did on my placement has really helped me when returning to university. I am now able to apply what we learn to a real business example which really helps me to understand the theoretical aspects of the course. Also group work, presentations and similar activities which I would have previously found daunting are definitely not any more, having done these things on a daily basis on my placement.

I would genuinely recommend anybody to complete a year in industry as part of their Business course. It really developed me as a person in many ways, as well as having a fantastic time, meeting some amazing people and leaving with a Graduate job secured for the future!

What a personal tutor can do for you

By Lucy Grimes

Before you come to university you might question what the role of a personal tutor is, and how their role fits in with your life at the university. I was also unsure of this before becoming a student, but being now in my fourth year at the management school I can definitely say I have had a great experience and continued support from my personal tutor throughout my time here.
During my first year my personal tutor was fantastic in providing support in terms of the transition to studying at university from a sixth form or college, and was a contact within the school that I could have a quick chat with if there was anything I was unsure of- a really useful thing to have when you’re getting to grips with the whole university system. It also helped to review my performance throughout the year, to ensure I made the necessary changes to my studies before I reached my second year.
When it came to beginning my second year, I decided to apply for a part time job, and my personal tutor also helped me with this, providing me with a reference when requested, and advising on the recommended number of hours for part time work during full time study.
In the course of my second year I also decided to undertake an Industrial Placement as part of my degree. Although I was aware of the process of how to secure a placement with external companies, I was very unsure of the process involved from the university’s perspective. However, my tutor helped me every step of the way to make sure that the process ran smoothly, and ensured that I was transferred to a ‘Degree with Employment Experience’- allowing me to undertake the placement whilst gaining recognition for it in my degree title.
Once I began my placement, my personal tutor was the consistent link between myself, my employment and my education. My placement was based in Manchester so I was therefore no longer living in Sheffield, which can make it difficult to feel a part of the university community. However I had regular communication with my personal tutor via email and telephone, which was really reassuring when you are away from the university environment. During our telephone meetings we would discuss my placement in detail, in terms of how I was getting on and if there had been any problems. My tutor took a keen interest into what I was doing right up until the very end of my placement. He also helped me to carefully choose my final year modules whilst I was away on placement, based on my subject preferences and previous performance in other subjects and assessment styles. I feel that with his assistance I chose final year modules which were appropriate and best suited to my learning style.

On return to university my tutor provided continued support on the subject of final year studies as well as career choices for the future. We looked together at how I had performed in other years, and what grades I should hope to achieve in my final year. This really helped me to clarify where I was up to with my studies and also helped me not to panic about final year exams and assignments!
In my first personal tutor meeting of this year we also discussed the job offer which I was holding, as well as other options for future careers, and my tutor encouraged me to attend a range of further careers events which really helped me to consider all the options available to me.
Overall, I feel that I have received a fantastic level of support from my personal tutor throughout the whole time I have been at the university, and would encourage other students to really make the most of the additional guidance and support you can gain from it. My university life would definitely not have run as smoothly as it has without the help of my personal tutor!

What you study in first year

By Alex Martinsmith

When I first applied to study business, I was really unsure as to what area I would like to focus my learning on.

In the first year the Management School provide a very rounded view of business management with modules covering every aspect of the discipline. Because of the fact I didn’t really understand what I wanted to focus on before university, it was definitely helpful that the Management School gave me a broad scope of modules in first year. Now I’m in second year, I can use my experience of the different topics I studied in first year to select the modules I want to study this year.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the modules I studied in first year:

ECN101 – Business Economics

An introduction to basic economic principles and theories. It’s come in handy numerous times in my other modules and is useful knowledge for life in general. Although not hugely advanced economics, it does require a bit of work to get your head around some of the topics, especially if you’ve not done economics before at A Level. This module only lasts half a semester.

MGT120 – Introduction to Behaviour at Work

As with ECN101, MGT120 lasts for half a semester. It runs through some of the core theories regarding organisation behaviour and draws on sociological and psychological work. It covers topics such as work structure and organisation, scientific management and misbehaviour at work.

MGT133 – Accounting and Finance for Managers

Provides a comprehensive understanding of accounting for business management students. It covers everything from simple cash flow forecasts and other financial documents right up to accounting rules and regulations and asset management. Coming from someone who had never done accounting before, it was very well explained and easy to understand when it we ran through it in seminars. It also helps get to grips with some of the terms used in business management when referring to accounting.

MGT134 – Business Management in Context

This module covers some of the important themes that managers encounter in business, mainly focusing on ethics and corporate social responsibility. This is a topic that is becoming ever more prominent in business and some of the issues covered are really interesting; such as the treatment of animals by McDonald’s.

MGT136 – Management Themes and Perspectives

The themes and perspectives covered in this module include marketing, strategy and supply chain and logistics. These all become separate core modules in second year and so this module gives you a useful grounding in the subjects. The module is assessed by writing an assignment for each topic. The frameworks and principles used in each of these areas are used frequently in other modules in both first and second year.

MGT138 – Analysis for Decision Making

This is a statistics based module that revolves around calculations for investment and finance. The topics themselves are relevant to any business career and are explained thoroughly. As someone who only did maths to GCSE level I didn’t struggle in this module at all and can genuinely say that it has come in useful a lot more than I thought it would.

MGT139 – Professional Self Management

A module designed to help business students become more employable by focusing on things like CV writing, skills development and employment processes. As someone who has just been through the recruitment process for a placement, I can say that this module was invaluable. I had no idea what an assessment centre even before studying this module and I’ve managed to secure a placement for next year with Boeing.

MGT140 – Business Challenges

This is your only optional module in first year. It can be swapped out for an unrestricted module which is basically a module of any other subject in the university such as History, French, Sociology, Politics etc. A majority of students tend to pick Business Challenges though. This module runs four students- run challenges that are to be completed in groups over the course of the first semester. My task was called ‘Steelers Challenge’: we had to design and then execute a marketing campaign to sell tickets to the Sheffield Steelers Ice Hockey games to the student market. This module is really hands on and is a totally different learning style to the rest of the course.

Click here if you would like to see the course structure.