Careers and Employability – Page 4

Internship Update

By Robbie Bailey

Hi guys!

I have now finished my internship at Santander and a lot has happened since my last blog post!

The Provisions team have been fantastic and really made me feel welcome from the start. They have given me a lot of work that has been interesting and worthwhile. I have been working on some proposed changes to the mortgage provision model and have been producing data on Excel to assess the impact of these changes on the overall provision. These changes will be a significant change to the nature of the teams work and they are being implemented later this year. Graphs and analysis that I have produced have been used in board papers and have gone right to the very top of the organisation. I certainly did not expect to be given so much responsibility during a 10 week internship programme but it has given me great exposure!

I have attended a number of training sessions for a variety of topics. We had sessions with teams from Risk and Pricing and learnt all about how these teams work. I was also invited to learn about Santander’s Finance Graduate Scheme and what life as a Santander graduate is like. These sessions were very useful and helped me when considering what I would like to do after I graduate from university next year.

The CSR Challenge is now finished and my team and I were very successful as we raised over £2,000! We ran weekly food sales within the office including cakes, popcorn, pastries and samosas! I organised a football score predictions game that was very popular in the office. Players paid £2 to enter and half of the money went to our charities and the other half went to the winner of the game. Our main fundraiser was a pub quiz night which we hosted in a local Wetherspoon’s! Teams from various departments across Santander came along to play and it was a fantastic evening. Local companies donated some great prizes including lunch vouchers, a free gym membership, a signed photo of Jessica Ennis-Hill and the winners took home a team go-karting session.

In my penultimate week I delivered a presentation to the Provisions team about my life, my experiences on the internship and my future career plans. This was really good as it helped me to reflect on the programme. This last 10 weeks have gone incredibly quickly, it has really flown by but I have had brilliant experiences and met some great people.

All Finance interns were offered the opportunity to interview for the Finance Graduate Scheme during our final week. We were asked about our experiences on the internship and our motivations and plans for the future. I was then called on my final day and told that I had been successful in securing a place on the Santander Finance Graduate Scheme. This is a 3 year rotational programme based in Santander’s London head office and I will be starting in September 2017.

The internship has been a fantastic experience and having a graduate job already secured means I can focus on my studies in my final year and takes away a lot of stress!

Applying for a placement year

By Jack Wignall, BA Business Management with Employment Experience

To undertake a placement year, you will have to go through an application process the same way you would if you were applying for a full time or graduate job. Although the process of applying for a placement is a very time consuming one, it will hold you in good stead when it comes to applying for graduate jobs in your final year and if you apply early enough, you can get them done before any major coursework deadlines or exams.
Applications Steps

Every placement application is different but they all follow roughly the same pattern of application steps. These are:

Online ApplicationThis initial stage usually comprises of uploading your CV and Cover Letter. However, many companies also take this opportunity to ask some suitability and competency based questions.
Psychometric and Situational Judgement Tests (SJT)The psychometric tests are designed to examine your all round ability and they usually include numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning and logical analysis tests. The SJT tests put you in a situation within the company you are applying for and is intended to test how you would respond.
Phone InterviewAn interview which takes place over the phone with the recruitment department.
Video InterviewAn interview using a computer or laptop where a question comes up on your screen and you present an answer using your webcam. Treat this like a real interview in how you present yourself and how you prepare for it.
One to one interviewA traditional interview with members of the recruitment department at the company.
Assessment CentreA screening process where several potential employees are evaluated on individual and group tasks in order to showcase specific skills and attributes.

During the whole process, it is important to keep track of a company’s business and social activities. This keeps you up to date on their dealings as well as ensuring you develop some understanding of their marketplace. On top of this, you can keep a record of the questions and answers you have made so far, so you can refer back to previous experiences when preparing for the next stage.

My 5 top tips for applying:

Apply early – many companies advertise early in the year, so apply before coursework/exam stress comes calling.
Stick at it – it is a time consuming process so keep going even if you feel like giving up!
Take advantage of the Careers Service – they are very helpful, and give you advice and showcase events.
Tailor applications – make each application specific to the company you are applying for.
Prepare for all types of questioning – competency based, experience based, fun and quirky

It is a gruelling process that needs a lot of time and effort, but if you work hard and – more importantly – be yourself, then some success may well come your way.

Good luck!

My placement year as Business and Marketing Assistant at Lubrizol

By Jack Wignall, BA Business Management with Employment Experience

The benefits of doing a placement year

Sheffield University Management School offer students the opportunity to undertake a placement year as part of your degree and I would recommend it to everyone! I have just come back from completing my Placement Year at Lubrizol, a chemical additive company, where I was a Business and Marketing Assistant. I always knew I wanted to do a placement year and this was part of the reason I came to Sheffield. I found the experience invaluable and have already seen the benefits since returning to University for my final year.

It helps when applying for graduate jobs

Having work experience alongside a degree is extremely useful when it comes to applying for graduate jobs. This is because employers are looking for someone who stands out and having the workplace knowledge and experience is priceless nowadays, especially when securing a good job is harder than ever before.

A chance to use your theoretical knowledge in practical situations

Doing a placement year gave me the chance to convert the theoretical knowledge from the course into practical experiences. This was very helpful during my placement as I was able to see how my degree was relevant to real life circumstances. The other benefit is that on the return to University you can do the reverse by using practical experiences in a theoretical context in your final year modules. Going forward, these are all great experiences that can be used in the application process for jobs post-uni as well as in the job itself.

You develop transferable skills

The experiences I had during my placement year have helped me to develop many key skills, including communication, IT literacy, time management and organisational skills. These were developed through responsibilities such as dealing with emails, using Microsoft Excel and arranging meetings. I also had to deliver several presentations through the year, most notably at a European Sales meeting in Hamburg. On top of this, the year has also helped me gain new skills that I didn’t have previously such as how to behave in a professional working environment.

Growing as a person

What I will take away most from my placement year was the fact I felt I matured during my time at work. Being in a position where I was working using my own initiative amongst professionals in a multinational company made me feel like I was a part of something bigger. The responsibilities I was given aided this as I didn’t feel like a student, but was valued as an actual employee. Away from the work, I felt I grew as a person by being independent – living in my own flat and organising all factors of my life that a ‘grown-up’ would have to do in the real world.

What is Enactus?

By Nathan Allaby

You probably haven’t heard of Enactus before, and neither had I. Although Enactus is actually an absolutely massive nonprofit social enterprise, operating in 36 different countries and over 1700 universities worldwide. The organisation creates a platform for entrepreneurial students to create community development projects both locally and internationally. In addition to these projects, regional, national and international competitions are run annually, in which Enactus teams from around the world showcase their work to a board of corporate executives. Enactus Sheffield has a fantastic track record in these competitions, taking second place at nationals for the past 9 years and winning in 2010 and 2014.

What you will do in Enactus Sheffield

There are two broad types of projects at Enactus Sheffield. Social Projects are those that aim to improve the lives of those in need in a sustainable and effective way, whilst Commercial Projects are separate businesses run in order to fund the Social Projects. At the moment I am working in a commercial programme called “The One Project,” where we sell mineral water to local cafes and establish marketing campaigns to increase awareness of water sanitation issues in parts of Africa. This involves meeting once a week on Wednesday afternoons, where our team members share their independent progress during the week and also discuss different selling strategy ideas collaboratively.

Outcomes and Skills

This project has significantly developed my confidence and presentation skills as I was given the opportunity to meet with potential clients and pitch our product. In addition to this, it is rare to be able to have full control over the running of a business but to also have a support network available at the same time. At the moment, I am in the sales team of “The One Project”, however there are also great promotion prospects, and starting second year I hope to be leading my own smaller project. There are also many positions available on the committee including roles such as Financial Director and Head of Media Relations. Therefore, whatever your particular skill set is, you’ll be able to find a role that you can enjoy and excel in.

Part-time work alongside studying

By Saad Khawaja, BA Business Management

Part-time jobs are a great way to earn some extra money, gain work experience and make new friends while you are at University. They offer another social element to life, where you’re not only building up your transferable interpersonal skills, but also meeting other students who are working in a similar capacity. Plus, there’s the financial independence!

It is possible to do a part time job whilst studying. However, we all need to remember that our studies are our first and foremost priority, so part-time work comes second.

For international students, our visa states that we can work no more than 20 hours per week. However, the university recommends that students work no more than 16 hours a week in order to be able to prioritise their academics and strike a balance between studying and working. For over seas students, the first thing to the route of finding a part-time job includes applying for, and obtaining a National Insurance Number, which every employer requires before you can start working for them.

The university runs a Careers Service, where experienced career advisors help you with refining your CV, and any other documents that you may need in order to apply for part-time jobs.

Working on part-time jobs provides you something to put on paper-worth for your CV, and provides evidence to employers when applying for graduate jobs and summer internships so that you really stand out from the crowd and have done more than just studying whilst at university. It provides you with an edge and gives you something to speak about in an interview and expand upon how it led up to building your interpersonal skills.

In addition, the Careers Service runs a Skills for Work programme whereby students are encouraged to complete 50 hours’ worth of work experience, upon which the Careers Service provides a student with a Skills for Work Certificate which is endorsed by leading companies and brands such as PwC, BT, The RBS Group, etc.

All in all, it is a great opportunity to be able to work on part-time jobs as they provide you with extra money to fill your pockets for the month. However, care must be taken that you prioritise your academics first over such part-time jobs and don’t let them get in the way of you reaching greater academic heights!

PwC Internship: My first week

By Ash Davies, BA Accounting and Financial Management and Mathematics

Upon joining PwC, I was invited to London for 3 days, where I took part in some induction training with 180 interns from across the UK. The induction was an amazing opportunity to network with other interns and to understand a bit more about PwC and what your internship would involve. The induction also gave me an insight into how much PwC invest into their employees, where all expenses were paid for and every night they would put on different events, including a Partner dinner and there was even a Pimms’s tent!

Apart from the exciting night time events, the induction involved a series of classwork study where all interns are given a laptop and all the software needed to complete an audit for example. After the 3-day induction, I headed back to the office where I was introduced to my team for the next 6 weeks and also I was given more support on how to use the audit systems and more simple tasks such as using the emails system. The exciting part of the day was being shown who my clients were for the next 6 weeks and I have been lucky enough to have been placed on an away client in Birmingham.

I would say something that attracted me to apply to PwC, was the opportunities available to grow in the firm. The opportunities available to you to take part in different areas of the firm are endless and when you join as a graduate you can easily ask to be placed on a client of your choice. Even though I was lucky enough to have an away client in Birmingham, a technology consultancy is flying to South Africa next week for 3 weeks. Only experiencing one week at PwC, it is clear that the opportunities are there and they will let you experience as much as possible with them.

How I became a PwC Intern: The Application Process

By Ash Davies, BA Accounting and Financial Management and Mathematics

Almost a year ago I decided that I wanted to gain some experience in the financial services industry. I recognised that competition for graduate places in the ‘Big Four’ and other financial firms is highly competitive and having that extra edge on other graduates is definitely something I wanted. In early September, I started to research many firms which specialised in finance and accountancy. My research led me to understand a lot more about PwC and the several different routes you can take in their firm.

Around November, I began my application process for the PwC Assurance Internship where the process takes around 3 months as there are 5 steps which are: application, logical & numerical tests, a telephone interview, an assessment centre and a final partner interview.

I fully researched PwC, looking into their values, services, clients and more simple things such as how long the internship is (which some people forget). Another important thing I would definitely recommend is to research into recent financial news on the FT, as one of the questions could be related to recent financial news and how PwC could help the situation. After the telephone interview you are invited to an assessment centre for a series of different exercises, where you have to pass all of them. The day can be quite tiring but PwC do support you throughout the day and if you have any questions, just ask! After the assessment centre, I went through a final partner interview in your chosen office, where it was more a casual chat than an interview. The final interview is a short discussion about why you would like to join PwC and a little bit more about yourself outside of your degree.

After such a lengthy process, I am proud to say I have been successful in securing a place on the internship and I will give you an update how my first week is going soon.

Top Tips – Things to do before applying:

Research PwC and the professional services they provide
Practise the numerical and logical tests and use websites such as Assessment Day to help you get through.
Research financial markets and current financial affairs.
Get involved in as much as possible at University – it allows you talk about a lot in your interviews!
Be patient as they have over 8000 applications for around 300 places!

A Student in the Summer: Finance Internship at Santander UK

Robbie Bailey

Reflections on my Internship

I am a few weeks into my internship so I thought now would be a good time to reflect on why I chose to apply for the scheme and what my time here has been like so far!

I am doing a Finance Internship at Santander UK and I am based in Santander House in Milton Keynes.

Whilst working as a Student Ambassador at the Management School, I heard many of the older ambassadors emphasising the benefits of getting real world work experience alongside my degree. I decided that I wanted to do a summer internship as it allowed me to get this vital experience without having to take a full year out of my studies. I then applied to a number of banks and financial institutions and worked my way through a lot of online applications and assessments. This is a long-winded process that can be very disheartening when your application is rejected but if you persevere and learn from your feedback then it is possible to get the opportunities that are out there. After multiple online tests and a telephone interview, I was invited to an assessment centre in Santander’s Milton Keynes office. This was the first assessment centre I had done and it was very tough but my hard work paid off and I got the job!

My programme runs for 10 weeks and I am working in the Provisions team. The easiest way to describe what my team does would be that we decide how much money to set aside every year to cover the losses that occur when people can’t pay their loans or mortgages. This area requires a lot of analysis and we use a number of sophisticated models on a daily basis to get the best estimates of how much money the bank are going to lose. Currently, I am focussing mainly on mortgage provisioning and I am doing a lot of analytical work, which means a lot of Microsoft Excel!

I knew that the work would be very Excel focussed so, prior to starting my internship, I completed a free online Excel training course provided by Lynda.com via the University of Sheffield website. I strongly recommend this as it has really helped me to quickly get to grips with the advanced Excel techniques used by my team every day.

During the induction process in the first week of the programme, I was told that interns also had to take part in a Charity Challenge. This involves working alongside other interns to raise as much money as possible for Santander UK’s charity partners: Age UK and Barnardo’s. I am the team leader of my team and we are currently in the process of organising our fundraising activities. We plan to have regular food sales in the office including cakes, samosas and sweets. Our main fundraiser will be a Quiz Night later in the programme and we hope to raise around £600-£700 which will then be matched by Santander UK.

Last week, I was invited by another Finance department to join them on their annual community day. Each Santander UK employee must do at least one community day a year. Santander support worthy causes in the local area by donating money and providing staff to undertake any major tasks. Last week we painted a fence at a local primary school which was a great experience as I got to meet new people from the Finance team and it was also very rewarding to see how happy the teachers were with our work!

I have really enjoyed the start of my internship as it has allowed me to experience life in real world finance. The charitable elements of the programme have also been fantastic! I will be writing another blog post towards the end of my internship to reflect on the programme in more detail. Thank you for reading!

My Placement Experience at Boeing Defence

By Alex Martinsmith

Placement Overview

First of all, an introduction to the placement scheme itself. Known officially as a ‘Degree with Employment Experience’, a placement is taken in between the second and third year of study. The placement is a year-long and usually start at the beginning of July at an organisation of your choice.

My placement was at Boeing Defence, a UK subsidiary of The Boeing Company, the largest aerospace company in the world. I was based in Bristol all year but had the opportunity to travel to other sites like London and RAF bases across the country. There was a huge portfolio of products and services, split into 4 main categories:

Rotorcraft – Selling military helicopters like the Chinook and Apache
Fixed Wing – Selling military aircraft like the C17 Globemaster and P-8 Maritime Patrol
Information Systems – Providing software to the MOD as well as crime fighting applications to UK police forces and security agencies like the National Crime Agency
Training and Government Services – Providing military simulators and solutions as well as government consultancy.

What’s involved?

In terms of university work there’s very little involved. There are two placement reports you need to finish by the end of the year and the potential to present what you learnt to other students and staff when you return. Other than that and two placement visits, you’re left to get on with your day job. Every role differs but placement students are never burdened with the tea making. I had some serious responsibility over the course of the year, working on numerous bids worth upwards of £200m. I even wrote the proposal for a £350,000 opportunity at one point!

Most companies have a structured placement scheme. You’ll get to experience a lot more of the business than some permanent employees do; I worked in a department that meant I got to experiment with work on all the four business categories as well as travel, attend industry days and conferences. Companies spend a lot of time and effort helping you develop and there’s a lot of opportunities to not only boost your CV but build your personal skillset and prepare yourself for a career.

What do you get out of it?

Aside from the obvious points like a brilliant looking CV with some strong experience, there are plenty of important things you gain. Firstly, you develop yourself as a person. Sounds quite cheesy but it’s really easy to forget about this: managing my time both in and out of work, motivating myself and boosting my confidence in the workplace are all skills I never really thought about until I began my placement. They’re really useful to take back to university and will be even more useful in my graduate job.

Secondly, it can be incredibly helpful for planning the next couple of years. Placement drastically improved my work ethic which is easily translated back into my final year which (hopefully) means better grades! It should help you plan for what sort of career or job role you want and in the ever expanding market of graduate schemes this should not be overlooked. It can be quite a chore sifting through the thousands of employers and roles and if you have a vague idea it’s a big bonus. My final point is the value it places on University. I’m going to take full control of my final year, take on every opportunity and make the most out of my time; something I probably wouldn’t have done if I’d have just gone straight to my final year.

What to do now?

If you’re about to start university then I’d try to make a decision now. I know it’s a difficult commitment but it’ll make the application process a lot easier. If you don’t want to decide now, I’d probably say that you have until the end of first year to say yes or no. In the interim, I’d go and see the Employability Hub and have a chat with both your family and personal tutor to help you decide.

Summer at the end of first year is the important period; you’ll need to make a list (a spreadsheet is handy) of the companies you want to apply to and some links/emails/telephones/people that you’ll need to go through when it comes to getting in contact. Secondly, you’ll need to update your CV. If you’re really organised you could do it in your academic year and get advice from the management school but don’t worry if you haven’t. Read posts on how to stand out and ensure you tick all those keywords off your list. Finally, vet your social media. Employers are using this as a way of choosing interns more and more. Make sure Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. are all acceptable and build yourself a LinkedIn profile if you don’t already have one.

Final step is to get applying! Attend some of the assessment centre and interview help days run by the Employability Hub if you aren’t sure what to expect. If you want any help or inspiration, get in contact: amartinsmith1@sheffield.ac.uk .

Why should you do a placement?

By James Morris, BA Business Management, Teeofftimes.co.uk

GAINING INDEPENDENCE
You may have successfully moved away from home and settled into your new surroundings in Sheffield, but a placement asks for much more than living the university lifestyle. A typical placement will require you to move location again, and work Monday-Friday. Although this sounds daunting on paper, in reality the transition was relatively straight forward, as you quickly make friends with other placement students that are in an identical situation to yourself. Furthermore, as you’ll have a consistent income, you will always be able to afford a visit back to see how your friends are getting on back at uni!

THE APPLICATION PROCESS
The application process for placement roles is often a long, drawn out procedure that students dislike. However, having undertaken a placement year I cannot stress enough how important the experience of going through the application process is, especially when applying for graduate schemes in your final year!
The process usually begins with an online application, which requires you to attach your CV, as well as asking you to answer 3 or 4 questions about your skill set. Once you have passed this stage, it is likely that you will be asked to complete some form of online test (situational or numerical reasoning). If you pass this it is probable that you will then undertake a telephone/skype interview, before attending an assessment centre.
It is unlikely that many students will have experience of assessment centres, telephone interviews and online tests. So why not use your placement year applications as a trial run, to see what works and what doesn’t, before you apply for graduate/full time roles in your final year?

To ask James or any of the other Placement Ambassadors about doing a placement year, email mgt.plambassadors@sheffield.ac.uk . You can also drop-in to the Employability Hub to speak to the Employability team.