Degree with Employment Experience – Page 3

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.

My placement experience at Nationwide Building Society

By Becky Altria, BA Accounting and Financial Management with Employment Experience

I am a final year student, with a confirmed place on Nationwide Building Society’s Graduate Programme. I can focus entirely on my studies, without worrying about securing a graduate position. All because I took a placement year.
If you are driven to succeed, keen to get in to work or unsure about what exactly you’d like to do in future – taking a placement year may be perfect for you.
I spent a year working in Nationwide’s Treasury. I worked on reports for regulatory and decision making. I was given a real job, with real tasks and responsibilities. It was tough at times, but ultimately an exciting and engaging experience – I’m not sure that I will ever learn so much in such a short period of time again. I made so many great friends and I was exposed to an array of opportunities. I also got involved in Nationwide’s citizenship agenda, including teaching maths to disadvantaged children. I loved the culture and had no doubts about returning there for a graduate position. This is one of the many fantastic benefits taking a placement year provides; I got to experience the job and the organisation I could be working for in future. This helped massively when making the life changing decision as to what graduate role to choose.
The university offer a huge amount of support for students looking to take a placement year. The Management School’s dedicated Employability Hub advertise opportunities to students, as well as providing skills workshops and interview & application support. You get a designated mentor, who has been on placement the previous year, just like myself, to support you through the whole process.
This support continues while you are on placement, students are provided with a placement tutor, who visits twice a year and supports you whenever you need it. Further to this, the Employability Hub are always there to support you.
Taking a placement year has not only helped me to secure a graduate position. I’ve developed an array of skills that I know will help me to hit the ground running when I start in my new role. The experience I’ve gained has made my university studies even more relevant. I am now able to apply my learning to real life scenarios that I have experienced, helping me to develop my understanding much faster. My placement year has taught me how to focus for long periods of time, a huge benefit to my final years studies. Finally, I am able to take up my graduate position at Nationwide, knowing I already have a fantastic network of friends and colleagues to support me.

My placement year at Arla Foods

By Lily Robinson, BA Business Management with Employment Experience

Last year, between my second and third years of study on the BA Business Management course, I decided to take a placement year. I began the application process during the autumn semester in second year. At this stage, I had an idea that I wanted to work in the marketing function, and I found Arla Foods advertisement for a Marketing Assistant on the lily 2 ratemyplacement.com website. The Management School has a dedicated careers service, the Employability Hub, who also advertise placements and they were a great help too.
I knew a placement was right for me as I really wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and try a new challenge. I was a little nervous about leaving Sheffield, moving to Leeds and being without my friends, but I knew I would meet new people and have an exciting experience. If you are unsure which area of business is for you, a placement is a great trial and error year. You can find out if you like your selected discipline and discover if you can see yourself working in that department in your future career.

After the recruitment process, which involved psychometric tests and an assessment centre day, I was offered a placement starting the following July. Arla were a fantastic company to work for, and I was given lots of responsibility (real tangible experience not just making tea and photocopying!). I worked on four brands during my time at Arla Foods, who are the UK’s largest dairy company and own brands such as Lurpak and Cravendale.
I ran events, liaised with marketing agencies, helped to create packaging and managed budgets. My proudest achievement was running a stand representing Arla across a whole weekend that had over 90,000 attendees! My family came to support me and my manager was on hand to see my work – the whole team were really supportive and pleased with my achievement. As well as work, I made loads of new friends in my colleagues. I had my own flat in Leeds and had loads of fun!
My career prospects have benefitted immensely from my placement year as I have tangible experience in marketing. Employers love to see a placement year and it means I have plenty of examples of transferable skills to speak about in graduate interviews. I won’t be as nervous leaving University as I know I can achieve high quality results when I work hard. I have also benefitted academically. Coming back to final year I am so much more focussed and really pushing myself. I am appreciating a weekday morning lie in much more now too!
As I mentioned, the Employability Hub are a great source of help. There are also the Placement Ambassadors, a team of students who were on placement last year. They are always on hand to give you advice on the application process and answer any questions you might have from a student perspective.

Why should you do a placement? It’s great fun!

Claire Richards

My placement year was one of the best years I’ve had of my time at university! It was so much fun alongside the challenging work.

The job itself can be really fun. I worked for Glaxo Smithklinehad and had a very big role which was very busy and stretching but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was great fun to actually organise induction programmes for the new graduates or a Development Week for all of the existing MBA associates across the business. Lots of the pictures below are dinners from assessment centres or induction and development weeks!

Obviously closely connected to this is the people you work with. Despite us being quite a small team we always had time to laugh and bond with each other. Some of the (very long) quarterly meetings with the whole team were the most fun meetings. Even though we were discussing very serious things, like where we taking our strategy over the next few years, we still managed to discover that one person in the team had been in a music video!

The other industrial placement students (affectionately called IPs) that you meet will be a lot of fun. From going to a bar after work and getting to know everyone to the more organised events like boat parties; the ‘IP community’ is a lot of fun, both to just be part of but also to lead, if the opportunity is there for you. The picture of a lot of us in orange t-shirts was when a lot of IP students went to support the GSK Impact Awards which acknowledges some incredible work done by charities around the UK – that was a fun and emotional night.

Doing an industrial placement will enable you to have a little bit more money to do a lot more fun stuff on placement too. Manchester United v Arsenal at the Emirates, Twenty20 games at the Oval and too many dinners to count gave me some awesome memories of my placement year, and would never have been possible without throwing myself in and undertaking a placement.

To ask Claire 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.

Why should you do a placement? To network and earn some money!

By Dan Radcliffe

Networking
Networking is a great aspect of doing a placement year. There are so many valuable benefits to keeping in touch with people you worked with of varying levels of seniority.
The contacts made on placement can be fantastic for receiving advice from and being mentored by. By getting myself out there while working for a large organisation and speaking to as many people as possible, I was able to find the areas I really wanted to work in for my future career and how to get there. Without the networking I did on my placement I would be very much stuck with what to do post-graduation, as well as being unaware of a huge number of career opportunities.
One of the contacts I made while on placement moved on to a new business and when I had finished my placement I asked to do work experience with him, as it was in a field I was particularly keen on working in. So don’t think of the networking as over after your placement year… They are contacts who can be really valuable in a sociable and professional manner.
The people you work and build close relationships with can be a huge resource when in your final year should you be applying for graduate vacancies. Not only can they stand out as glowing reference providers, but they can also help you with recruitment into the organisations which you choose to apply to.
So to summarise, get yourself known while on placement. Don’t just work in the remit of your team. Try and explore areas you’re interested in for the future, thinking past that 12 month (give or take) placement year. The people you network with are massive assets and you can really benefit from them – keep them close!

Earn Some Money
With the length of an industrial placement, you will probably have a salary to help out with the costs and give you a bit of extra money. Though the purpose of an industrial placement is focused on the experience and learning as opposed to the money, it’s a nice bi-product to enjoy.
Throughout my placement, I didn’t have to rely on student loans or financial support from my family as my salary enabled me to be self-sufficient, living away from home.
Furthermore, it gave me the ability to enjoy some extras, such as the technology I couldn’t afford as a student, and a few holidays within the year.
Depending on where you are in the country will determine your salary as well as the company and industry you work in.
Like with part-time work, the pay is a real credit to the hard work that you put in day-to-day on a placement year and a nice bonus to doing an industrial placement.

To ask Dan 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.

What will I study on BA Business Management?

By Lily Robinson

As a final year student looking back over my three years on the Business Management degree course, I am very satisfied with the variety of modules and topics that have been available to me. I have covered many areas of business; accounting, human resources, marketing and supply chain to name a few. In first year, though it seems you have less choice, the modules are based around important different areas of business, to really help your understanding of what you enjoy. A good manager will have knowledge of all of these areas, so it’s also beneficial for your employability prospects. All modules in first year teach the basics, so if like me you didn’t take Business at GCSE or A Level, please don’t feel you are at a disadvantage starting this degree!
There are compulsory basic maths, accounting and economics modules in first year, which personally I was nervous about to begin with. All the lecturers were great at explaining things. I did poorly in Economics during my AS Levels and achieved a 2:1 in the Business Economics module at degree level, which really is a testament to the great teaching staff at the University who were there to support me.

Having taken a placement year after second year, I found that I used learnings from some of my modules during work. During the second year supply chain module, I did a group presentation to a number of academic lecturers and industry experts which was an invaluable experience. I also found the unrestricted module I chose, Business Challenges, gave me the chance to work on my communication skills and meet new friends.

Through later years, there are less core modules and you really get a chance to tailor your degree and take modules in subjects that really matter to you. I am currently exploring a career in Marketing after working as a Marketing Assistant at Arla Foods during my placement year. I have chosen two different marketing modules in third year and have decided to work on a marketing based project in my Management Project module. This has allowed me to research subjects that I find interesting, which I believe has helped me achieve good grades in my modules. One of those modules, Digital Marketing, is a relatively new field of marketing and I received up to date theories and research from my lecturer.
Overall, the variety and quality of the modules has been very beneficial to me. I have tailored my degree to the point where I can highlight certain modules to employers and mention specific works in my CV.

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!

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.

Gaining work experience with a year in industry

As a student on our BA Accounting and Financial Management you have the opportunity to convert your degree from three to four years by adding a year in industry between your second and third year, turning your degree into one with employment experience.

An amazing way to really put the theory you’ve learnt in years one and two into practise and also gain valuable industry insight which you can then feed into your final year of study. As well giving you the chance to build a network of contacts for post-graduation you’ll also be building a tool-kit of practical skills such as networking and time-management, not only useful in the working world but also for your final year of study.

Students in previous years have completed placements in companies such as Ernst and Young and National Grid and some of our placement student have been lucky enough to be offered graduate roles – really taking the third year job seeking pressure off!

As well as work experience these placements also give you the opportunity to live and work in a different city, earn a real wage and also to get a real taster of what it is like to work in the field.

Hear from some of our students who have been on a placement and learn more about the process and support available to you.