10 top tips for a placement year.
1. Enjoy the experience
As much as your placement is about learning and hard work, you need to make sure you enjoy the whole experience. Even if things don’t go to plan, make the most out of the experience. If the placement is not what you expected don’t let go of the opportunity. The more you will make most out of it the more valuable experience you can get, so even if it is not something you would like to do in the future, it does not mean that the skills you develop will not help you in a different role.
2. Take your own initiative
Placement year is a learning experience so make the most out of the help, advice and support you will receive, however it is important to go out there and work to the best of your initiative instead of just waiting until you are asked to do something. It is your chance to try your best and just go out there while being supported if needed, so use it!
3. Ask questions
You are still learning meaning you can get away with asking questions. This is the whole point of a placement year, not to just experience it but learn as much as you can which can’t be done without asking questions. You can get away with asking a lot during your placement year, however as a graduate you will be expected to know more information therefore use this opportunity to learn as much as you can.
4. Keep a log book/ record
Placement year will help you stand out and sell your skills to your possible future employers and therefore you need to remember how you demonstrated and achieved certain tasks. It is good to keep a record just so you can look back on it and refresh your memory, a year may not seem like a very long period of time but if you get a chance to get involved with number of different opportunities and projects you may forget what strengths, weaknesses, and challenges you had to overcome, use and develop.
5. Be flexible
The more flexible and adaptable you will be the more you will be able to learn and experience but also your placement will be more enjoyable. This is because having different responsibilities and working on different projects will keep things interesting instead of doing the same job for a year over and over again. It is nice to have a routine but if you are constantly doing the same things it can get boring easily and therefore not enjoyable. Let’s be honest, you’re not going to enjoy everything you do in life, somethings just have to get done however if you have a variety of different opportunities/ projects you could be getting on with it will be more interesting due to change of daily/weekly tasks.
6. Be honest
Trying to please everyone can mean that you will not succeed at everything and rush most things. You need to be honest with yourself and others to know how much you can take on, succeed and push yourself while avoiding not being able to handle the workload.
7. Build connections
Placement year is a great opportunity to meet people you would not usually meet. You would not usually be exposed to some of the staff members if not being part of the company, therefore it is important to make the most out of this opportunity. Even starting something as simple as improving your LinkedIn profile and connecting with important contacts that you might go back to in the future. When would you have better opportunities to make professional contacts if not during your placement year? You are still a student but you are most likely be taken more seriously while being employed, full time in a great company.
8. Learn from your mistakes and take on feedback.
Placement year is an opportunity where you can make mistakes and you will always have the support behind you, helping you come up with a solution and figuring out the problems. Use this opportunity to give everything a go. You don’t want to go on a placement year and stick to one task because of being scared of failure as this will not allow you to grow.
9. Get used to working life
A lot of placement students have not previously worked full time which can be a big change not just in terms of your work life but also your lifestyle. It will take some time before you come up with a routine that best suits you and your life to make sure that you are not missing out on your interests, hobbies, friends and family time outside of work.
10. Last but not least: Make the most out of it!
At the end of the day most placement years are an option, if you do chose to take a year out of studying to do a placement, you might as well make the most out of it. You need to think about who you are doing it for. The company? Yourself? Your degree? What is your motivation behind this placement, what are you trying to achieve or improve? How will it benefit you the most?