anyone know where to look for work placements

kermitthefrog_3

hi everyone,

wondering if anyone can help. i'm trying to find a work placement for my sandwich year at uni, i'm doing multimedia design and want to do something like games testing. does anyone know of anywhere that deals with helping people to find work placements? also was wondering if anyone knows the deal with the sandwich year as i ahve absolutely no idea and have been told that if you cannot get a loan in your sandwich year then its really hard to reapply for it i your final year at uni, is this true?

mrak

Hello there Kermit,

Your little question seemed to have attracted no answers thus far, and I thought I'd try to help. I'm a software tester by trade, but not for anything as exotic as computer games I'm afraid!

First off: getting a placement is a daunting experience for many students - many companies ask you to interview in january-february -when students typically sit exams. But don't be deterred, it was one of the most worthwhile things I've ever done, an added proper "real-life" experience to my degree.

Second: where are you at uni? You may well find that your university have a careers service where you can research various programmes and establish what you're interested in.

Third: Why specifically games testing? Sorry if this puts a dampener on things, but testing recreational software isn't "all fun and games" In fact, you'll often work on one specific area of functionality for prolonged periods ironing out stubborn bugs.. Imagine playing the same level of your favourite game 40 times or so - sometimes working to tight schedules

Finally: There are several software houses with operations in the UK that you could try.. Namely LIONHEAD in Guildford (they made Black and White and it's sequel), and microsoft (in several locations) that tend to be student friendly. Microsoft offer a pretty good grad package IIRC, (a mate of mine did the course a few years ago).

In closing: I cannot reaffirm this enough:

1. Never be afraid to be honest and yourself at interview. Fortune favours the brave.
2. With any important decision: Research is key. Testing is a great field to work in, and the money/progression is excellent, but find a company that suits you.
3. As with everything in life: rejection happens. Should you miss an opportunity.. dust yourself off, and try the next one. DON'T BE DISCOURAGED.
4. Good luck!

Need more pointers? I'll try to come help some more!

Cheers,

Mark

(Oh and also: If money is an issue, try for something close to your home town.. then live at home for a year.. I did, and saved a packet!)

mrak

Oh, also: in my day:

http://doctorjob.com

There are various student-seeks-placement magazines available.. Google for them.

pavlovs_dog

placements fill up quick and take a long time to organise. i've just aranged a two week block of work experience, and the amount of work involved s unbelievable.

use the time you have now to sit down and draft a basic copy of your CV and a covering letter. it looks professional, shows that you are taking things seriously, and can help get your foot in the door.

as for where to go, try the uni career shop, or ask the module coordinator where other students have gone in the past.

Ian85

If your uni has a careers service try that as a lot of placements were advertised there at mine. One of our lecturers was also a placements tutor and he often got information from companies who had placement opportunities which he passed on to us. I don't know if your uni has anyone similar - but I guess it's worth a shot.

You could maybe try writing speculative letters to any companies that your interested in to see if they can offer you anything.

I found it canny hard to get a placement in programming (what I hoped to do), so instead took a placement in software testing. Another thing I found was that a lot of companies had a variety of different placements in I.T. and would try and match you with what they thought you were best suited to - so when you applied it was just for a generic I.T. placement.

As for the loan, I've no idea. I couldn't get a loan this year as my placement is optional (not classed as a sandwich degree). I'm still doing my placement so won't be applying for my loan for next year for a while yet.

Hope this helps a bit.

richardsimkiss

I'm currently on a work placement so have dealt with this all very recently, Although my experience may not be true with all career areas, you can draw form my experience whatever you feel is helpful

I started looking for my placement too late, I really struggled to fin anywhere... I found the internet not very helpful in finding placements unless it went directly to the 'careers' sections of companies websites.

1) Apply to as many places as you can through the university careers office.
2) Write to companies, but make sure you spend time writing a really good cover letter (makes a big difference!)
3) DO NOT limit yourself to applying for certain job roles, i initially did this and it completely backfired. I'm now doing an unpaid placement and seriously regretting it.

With regards to student loan, my loan is HALF what i had last year, despite my placement being unpaid. I'm having to work part time as well to afford my living costs, monday tuesday and thursday are 13.5 hour days for me (start 9am, end 10:30pm). I can't understand why it would be any harder to get a loan in your final year? or why you would be unable to get a loan on your placement year? I have many friends who have their student loan despite earning £10-16k on their placements.

Good luck, and get hunting!! :beer:

lellie

if you're doing a sandwich course surely you'll get lots of info from your tutors and uni as the placement is part of the course? Have you asked your tutor for advice?

vincefenlon

https://www.milkround.co.uk, thats quite good

kermitthefrog_3

thanks to all for responses,i'm at university of kent in canterbury, they have given us some lectures about previous placements, but obviously with multimedia technology giving such large scope i'm not sure which field to head for! i've always been interested in games and the career advisor at the university has told us the only way we will get into game design would be to start off as games testers. the other direction i am inclined to follow is designing of educational software for children, i don't know if this would be easier to get a placement in?i'm doing alot of work at the moment on program called maya and some companies that i have approached so far say that i need to send a digital portfolio to them, i understand that the placements fill quickly but i don't feel i have sufficient work to send them at the moment!

greyster

i did a 4 year thick sandwich degree and my 3rd year was a 48 week full time placement.

All I can say is apply early. Some companies advertise early and some relatively late, you can't afford to wait until later. The industrial placements are oversubscribed just like normal jobs. I applied for about 60 jobs and got 4 interviews.

I dont know anything about the graphic design industry but if you make contact with any HR staff in larger firms, get them to circulate your CV (and portfolio?) around their areas and give contact info on other HR teams in different areas. Don't be afraid to ask "do you know someone who might be interested or able to help".

At the end of the day its why a lot people say its who you know, when it comes to getting work. I got my job from a good telephone conversation with a HR manager who didnt have any jobs, but passed my CV to someone who "might" have a look at my CV. It turned out my role wasnt advertised and they just made room for me.

Edit -

The SLC gave me a "half" loan on my placement year. I believed it was normal for placement students in 2002/3.

Ian85

I think that if your course is a sandwich degree you can get half your normal loan when doing a placement, but if like me your course is just a 3 year one (placement optional and not part of the course) and you've deferred your 3rd year until after your placement they won't give you a loan when you're doing your placement year.