Industrial placements

[Allfurcoatandnoknickers]

My DD is in 2nd year studying BSc in Economics. She's really interested in data analysis and not the 'finance' companies and has just missed out on a few placement opportunities after interviews. She's just waiting on one interview, and then if that's unsuccessful will have to start again with her applications, which are very time consuming with a full on degree, part time job etc....
Has anyone got any suggestions? She's been looking on Bright Network, Gradcracker etc., but not much coming up at the moment. She's worrying that she's not going to get a placement and not sure what would happen then.

At DDs uni the placement year is optional so you would just complete your final year if nothing suitable turns up.

It might be too late for most year long placements (the ones DD applied to had October 2022 closing dates for September 2023 start). They were still advertising some summer data analysis placements last week (NatCen, Scottish Government, SSE Energy analyst). Pharmaceutical and contract research organisations might be worth a look too.

Thanks @SandyIrvin yes I'm a bit annoyed as she didn't seem to know that she should have been applying in September for a lot of the placements that she was interested in. She started in November which was probably a bit late. She applied to GSK and didn't hear anything, but will tell her to have a look at some others....

Asked DD and she said House of Commons were looking for a researcher placement student but closing might be very soon.

@SandyIrvin fab will take a look!

Haha DD applied to GSK too. She chose 3 schemes. Almost immediately they withdrew one (her first choice). Got thru to the final interview stage and then they withdrew another (her 2nd choice). The one that remained she had only selected as they needed 3 choices so she withdrew. This placement business is so time consuming.

DD say here will be finance placements (audit etc) left too. Not my DDs thing either.

At DDs uni you can substitute a year abroad at another uni for a placement. Would that be a possibility?

@SandyIrvin Theres deadline for those too! Surely too late. DD was all sorted by now. Presumably she needs English speaking so limited availability I would think.

She's waiting on one interview and will hopefully hear back on that this week. We've got a few irons in the fire, but she has ruled out working abroad and has said she's not going back into third year so will be looking to get as much experience as she can possibly get. She will apply for some of the summer internships/placements that are cropping up and then try and get something after that. It's been a lot harder than we thought, and sad that she wasn't really made aware of this...

When DD 2 needed a placement they were told to get a move on. I’m not sure all universities are up to speed with the difficulties of getting placements either. Some Dc don’t get a wriggle on and parents think the universities sort it out. I think it’s a bit of a con.

@TizerorFizz that's been our experience sadly. We had no idea that a lot of the places had such tight deadlines, nor that the application process was so long winded or competitive. She's just heard this afternoon that her interview was successful and should hear in the next couple of weeks if she has a placement - if that's not misleading I don't know what is 😦

Her uni should have a placement advisor/coordinator who will help her with placements and check her cv/applications etc........

Depending on how many weeks she has to do there is still plenty of time but yes the big companies open them early and they are mostly recruited to now. Companies will still have placements coming up to advertise though.

Well done to your DD. I presume it's a civil service placement with that cryptic message (my DD got similar but it was turned into an proper offer a couple of weeks later when they had matched people to their preferred locations/departments).

I just put 'Data analysis 2023 internships' and had quite a few opportunities pop up, some of these were just put there recently.

I do agree that the process of applying is very time consuming especially when also studying for a degree, but I am very supportive of the concept. The companies put as much emphasis into recruitment as for permanent graduate positions as internships for them are also a recruitment tool.

I don't believe they are a con as a PP insinuated but the student does have to put the effort in early and the universities should emphasise this and provide the tools (CV checking, practice interviews etc). My DD's 1 year placement was hugely valuable experience for her. My DS on a 4 year degree (No placement year) applied and was successful for 2 summer holiday internships - again extremely valuable experience.

@SandyIrvin yes it's Civil Service so a bit obtuse! That's given me some hope thanks!!
@ItsReallyOnlyMe I'm hugely supportive of the placement idea, and my DD is too. Her degree is with a placement year, and whatever happens, she is going to try to get some experience. She had some CV help, and a few workshops at Uni, and regular emails with suggested openings, but she's an adult now and a lot of this has to be done of her own back. I think she started off being picky on locations, then ruled out a few other ones on various grounds, and here we are nearly in April. She's going to apply for a few others later this week in case the Civil Service one comes to nothing. It could be a number of locations, but she's now accepted that and is happy to go wherever!

@Allfurcoatandnoknickers My DD got her first choice location. I think the only ones who struggled were those who wanted London (less places than successful applicants) or those who wanted a location where there only one spot and their interview scores weren't the best.

Once she is assigned to a department then there is a WhatsApp group which my DD has found really useful.

There is also security clearance too. My DD hasn't yet withdrawn from her other applications just in case.

@SandyIrvin thanks that's really helpful 😊

This. I would be very surprised if the university had not stressed the importance of starting early. Its in the universities interest to get as many people out on placement as possible but the student need to do the legwork. If your DD is not getting the roles she wants she may need to review her interview technique or adjust her expectations in terms of what role and or location. For many people a few tweaks here and there make a world of difference. If she doesn't get a a placement she can still make use of this experience for the graduate applications.

By “con” i meant that students believe the uni has enough placements. Also that the university slots them in. It is rarely clear when a student starts that the placement is competitive. Some students simply get nothing. The universities know this. They should be clear about how you get a placement, what the hoops are and chance of success. Plus what happens if you don’t get anything.

@TizerorFizz agreed. It would be helpful to set realistic expectations for students.
I don’t think my DD had very much support or guidance in the early part of year 2 but
I could be wrong there. There also aren’t many placement students on her
course.
To be fair she spent the first term of year 2 not too well so I can see how stuff like this might have been put on the back burner to cope with the demands of course work.
hopefully the civil service job will come good 😊