5 Top Tips On Finding A Placement…!
By Anna @BubbleJobs
As many of you already know from my incessant #MDTalentDay tweeting, Bubble’s ‘A Team’ (Adam, Amy and Anna – myself) were out and about on tour yesterday! We spent the day in Manchester’s prestigious Town Hall dishing out our best advice to the North’s finest aspiring digital gurus!
We were highly impressed to meet some savvy first and second year students already thinking about life after university! But one question we were continually asked related to where you might look when it comes to securing year-long industrial placements for sandwich course degrees.
So with this in mind, today’s blog comes with five top tips on what to consider when going for placements.
1. Firstly I think it’s important to point out that as you begin the search for fixed term work experience, you must keep an open mind. You might have your heart set on a particularly notorious big brand but consider what your actual role will involve. Will the experience be as worthwhile as it might be at a smaller agency? Quite often the smaller, quirkier digital agencies will let you assume a more hands-on role. You might get given real responsibilities that can enhance your CV skillset as opposed to merely shadowing an Exec all day and making him/her endless cups of tea and coffee.
2. In several cases yesterday, you all agreed that you’d exhausted your universities’ database of contacts and your careers advisors so if this is the case, be proactive and draw up a list of firms you want to work for. Find local agencies on Google and keep attending Careers Fairs (like the Manchester Skills Summit one yesterday) – I can’t stress how important these talent days are for networking!
3. If you’re looking to get experience inside a large organisation, they will often have a placement process detailed via their website but if not, don’t be afraid to call them up and see if they would be interested in taking you on – if you don’t ask, you don’t get! Before you do pluck up the courage to cold call a company however, you are probably best doing some online stalking to try and find the relevant individual to speak to. That way, you’ll equip yourself with a bit more credibility to the person on the other end of the phone – people are always grateful to know you’ve put in some research ahead of time!
4. Research is also a vital point worth mentioning in my fourth tip relating to CVs and placement cover letters which emphasises the efficiency in spending more time on fewer applications. The more personal your applications are… the better. At the end of the day, you’re far more likely to get noticed if you’ve tailored your cover letter specifically to an organisation!
5. As we know from our experience yesterday, many of you have been feeling rejected after a series of knockbacks. It’s completely natural. But don’t feel you can’t get something from the experience. Ask for feedback from a rejection! Constructive criticism can really help you pick up on area where you might be going wrong…!
About the Author
Anna Geary Anna Geary is the Social Media Manager for Bubble Jobs. As a natural chatterbox, Anna is responsible for all things social, engaging and growing the Bubble community everyday. You can follow her on Twitter here or add her to your circles on Google + here.
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