Work Experience/Placements?

The_One_Who

Does anyone know when the best time to apply for this kind of thing is? It'd be during the summer and I'd be wanting to work in a company related to what I want to do (I already have some places in mind). Ideally I'd want to do some summer work for them and then carry on with them throughout a Masters degree if they'll have me.

The thing is I'm wanting to travel throughout the summer between my third and fourth year and I might do the same after my fourth year. So it really leaves me with next summer which seems a bit early. Should I forego the travelling after fourth year and hope I get a place with the company then?

Any advice?

QuirkyChemistry

It might depend on the industry but some employers only take you on at the end of second year (on a BSc/BA) or third year (on a 4 year course). From what I have looked at in the past (chemistry related) applications start from October time until January for the big companies so it is probably a good idea to start looking soon. The work experience will really help your CV but it would be a shame to miss out on travelling. Maybe you could combine work and travel? A placement in a foreign employers? Is it possible to do a placement as part of your degree?

The_One_Who

The company I'm really wanting will consider anyone over 16, but I don't know about the others. Maybe I should apply. I really don't want to leave it until after my fourth year because I'm wanting to get onto a Masters course that is pretty much required for the job and so I'm wanting to make sure that it is the choice for me before committing to it. My degree (being geography) doesn't give me the chance to do a placement.

I looked into working abroad but it all seemed a bit daunting to be honest. I'm hoping to work next summer and get some money together, then do a Camp America type thing the summer after (which would be after third year) and travel around after it.

pinkshoes

Graduates are two-a-penny nowadays, so it's important to stand out from the crowd when applying for jobs, and work experience is the perfect way to do this! I would go for the work experience, then if you go on to work for this company, you can usually defer your start date til January after graduation, so can travel then. I spend my summer between my 3rd and 4th year working a full time job (you only get/got 75% of student loan in 4th year as they assume you go straight into full time employment) and researching my 4th year project!

loo8866

Hi There!

First of all, i 100% recommend getting good, relevant work experience each summer you can. I just graduated this year and was fortunate enough to secure my graduate job back in January.

Through my 4 years of uni, i worked each summer doing 'summer placements' relevant to my degree, and this opened up my options big style.

Basically, if you want a good graduate job you really need to have at least 2 good sumemr placements under your belt...with so many students graduating these days work experience is really important.

Basically, employers will choose students who have got good work experience under their belt over those who went travelling

(Also - another bit of advice - get in with the big companies. If you're in IT like i am, apply to summer placements with the big names such as RBS, Deloitte, BP etc etc, then when you apply for grad jobs this will go down extremely well.)

The_One_Who

Thanks for the replies!

The travelling will basically be my first opportunity to do it and I'll be mixing it with some research for my dissertation. Get me, going into second year and already have an idea for a dissertation!

The company I really want for has a work experience programme for the holidays so I'll apply to it and hope to God I get it. Even a week or two should be enough for me to get an idea of whether or not the job is right for me. I'm going to e-mail some other companies too to see if there are any chances for work experience.

I don't really know what the "big companies" are. I know of a couple who are big, global companies and they're the ones I was looking at. I'm also considering the local councils, but that'd really be a last resort.

u2o

loo8866 wrote: »

(Also - another bit of advice - get in with the big companies. If you're in IT like i am, apply to summer placements with the big names such as RBS, Deloitte, BP etc etc, then when you apply for grad jobs this will go down extremely well.)

Exactly what im doing - I.T. in one of the mentioned companies but im doing it for 12 months as part of my university degree. I recommend it 100% to do a placement, all about options after graduating (or not if you just get offered a grad position at the end of placements).

and as far as i know, applications for the coming summer (2008) with big companies will be starting now or very soon and will be ending around January - give or take a month or two.