Is a placement year really worth all the time and effort?
I am currently halfway through my placement year (6 months in). Time flew by very quickly, and amongst all the learning I’ve been having fun. I’d like to encourage the next year’s placement students to apply and explore industries through placements. Here are my top 3 reasons to take a placement year, as well as what I'm looking forward to after the placement:
You graduate with experience! This is the best thing about taking a placement year over not doing one at all.
Once you graduate, that placement year will be in your resume/CV. This might be the one thing that will set you apart from other graduates applying for the same position. Employers will likely pick someone who has already dipped their toes in the industry, over a fresh graduate with no actual experience in the environment at all.
If you want to get a step ahead of everyone else in the competitive job environment, do a placement! A lot of people online without a placement year say they struggle to enter the career landscape.
Once you’ve finished your placement year, you will be heading into your final year/years. You will have brought real experience into your assignments and understand the content a lot better.
It will feel really satisfying graduating with flying colours. It doesn’t always feel the best when you feel like you’re behind because your classmates did a placement, and you didn’t. Additionally, the other placement students will also come back for their final year, and you can make some really great long-term friends that way.
Even though I chose to study Business and Finance, I still had no idea what I was going to do once I graduated. But because I have gained actual in-office experience, I know now that I want to pursue marketing at a deeper level.
Taking a placement forces you to make an educated choice when it comes to career opportunities. You’ll know what you like, dislike or want to learn more of in another degree.
In my previous blog, I talked about what I am learning, my strengths and weaknesses. I can successfully say, I have overcome most of my weaknesses in just 6 months. I am starting to enjoy pushing myself out of the comfort zone and I wonder where else it will take me.
Since I have started a placement at JRMA, I have grown more confident in myself, stutter less, and feel a lot less nervous picking up the phone. I realise that in order to be successful and happy in your career, you will need to start networking and actively talk to others about their experience.
The key is exposure, and if you don’t step out your comfort zone and expose yourself to scary conversations and networking, the journey will be a lot harder. The placement gives you a hand in helping you become your own motivator.
To answer the question in the beginning of this blog: Yes! Doing a placement is totally worth the time and effort.
If you made it this far, you have a great chance of getting a placement, with that eagerness to learn. I have personally learnt a lot so far, but now I have a better idea what I’m good at, and what I will aim to do in future roles.
The University of Worcester has helped me a lot in applying for placements and the work during the placement. Talk to the Placement Coordinators in getting started via email or face-to-face.
If you’d like to hear about my personal experience in being a placement student, you can connect with me on LinkedIn here, and ask: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelle-absalom/
