Jobs, Placement, Internships

[SandyIrvine]

Setting up a thread for those of us with DC applying at the moment to share tips etc.

All welcome.

I'll start by saying remember not to dress top half only for online interviews just in case they ask you to move (DDs case to get a calculator) and they see the real you (daisy duke's and monster slippers) as opposed to the Mrs T Pussy bow shirt and conservative hair you had planned.

I regularly assess placement interns and graduates.

My biggest advice is to get involved and show your personality. Most candidates at assessment centres will score well in interview and tests, but far fewer do well in the group exercises. Those that give us an insight into their personality and how they get involved in a group are the ones who ultimately do well in our business.

@SellFridges. Good advice. Let's see if DD gets as far as the real interview stages.

She has only applied to 2 placement schemes. Gone for quality over quantity. Finding applications quite onerous with online testing, detailed forms/essays information events plus she works part-time and her uni started early (already at week 4). If she isn't successful she will try again at Christmas for summer internships as a placement year not compulsory for her.

My ds is in the thick of applying for 3rd year summer internships (he's on a 4 Yr integrated Masters). He has gone for quantity, has applied for over 50, mostly in the 2 weeks before his courses started. Has got to stage 1 or 2 on about 20, and has one assessment centre in a week or so. He's v focused and happy to take multiple tests a day His strategy is to narrow down to top 10, then focus on these. It's competitive!

Wow 50 applications already. DD has decided only to apply to those directly relevant to her degree (for the moment) and has only seen a handful advertised.

She's thru the initial rounds (online tests gave immediate feedback - although one (numerical) told her which percentile she was in compared to other applicants - it was very good but she's worried with volume of applications not good enough).

Interviews are late November/early December so she has a wait to hear.

Good luck at the upcoming assessment centre. I like that it's early. Is your DCs plan to see how many he gets thru to and then pick a short list?

@SandyIrvine , everything he is applying for is relevant to his degree (Maths). Fellow students in the year above share lists of available internships from banks/investment companies/tech companies. He hopes to narrow down to 10 or so and he does have a hierarchy of 'most wanted'

@beeswain lots of internship options for mathematicians. Less so for social scientists (even with quant skills) particularly if like my DD you dont want banking/finance.

My own degree is maths and I've stayed in the field 30+ years. Tell your DS not to be too seduced by the finance jobs. I've found engineering and science to be really interesting for a mathematician and well paid enough (but I'm in the north).

I would be careful about narrowing down what you apply for. A DC of our friends did that and got nothing. Getting something is better than nothing. If you are confident about aiming high, that’s great, but volunteering gives skills!!! Don’t overlook any avenue to get something on the cv.

My son received a summer internship offer yesterday, he’s thrilled. He would advise others to spend time on the application process, respect the application form and research the organisation and the specific sector within it. Good luck to your DC.

Wow well done him! My DS is still going through multiple application processes and is staying positive and hopeful that the right one (or any) will come

My DD managed to get a placement. It's a long process. She started the application in early September but only got her place today.

For those applying next year not sure my DDs strategy was good. She only applied to 2 schemes (although these had around 50 placements available). One of the schemes withdrew jobs (once early on the process and again at a late stage) so she was left with one scheme. She was lucky but it could have easily went the other way (everything on a 5 minute presentation and 20 minute interview). I might advise more applications .

Great news @SandyIrvine she must be pleased. DS is also sorted, had an offer before Christmas after quite a gruelling few weeks of seemingly back to back assessment days. The company he will he working for recruit their graduates from their pool of summer interns so he's very pleased.

My daughter is still trying to get something. She got down to the last 5 just before Christmas but wasn't chosen, and she has an initial interview for another one next week, which would be stage 1 of the process. She's hoping there will be more advertised after exams are over and she can do another flurry of applications.

It's stressing her out a lot though. She'd like to have some idea of where in the country she'll be living this summer/September.

Getting down to the last 5 is so close. DDs uni have been saying not to worry if you didn't get anything last term as more come out this month and a few summer internships don't start recruiting until March/April.

DD is also hoping to get a grad job offer from her placement (or to discount it as a career).

A placement year is optional at her uni and not so common . I worry a bit that being out of academia for a year will affect her writing skills (third of last year is a dissertation). Interested in hearing how others found the return for their final year.

House of Commons are looking for Committee Researcher Sandwich Student if your DC are still looking for a placement. Closing date is 12 April.