Many courses at the University of Portsmouth let you do a year’s work placement, short-term placements, or a self-employed placement.
These provide excellent opportunities to gain high-level experience, insight into a particular job role, and make useful contacts. The experience looks good on your CV and a large number of students get graduate jobs with their placement employer.
You’ll spend your placement working for an employer or setting up and working on your own business. It gives you the chance to experience what it’s like working in your potential career and allows you to apply the knowledge and skills you’ve learned in your degree.
Doing a placement, As well as increasing your employment opportunities :
As well as increasing your employment opportunities, doing a placement:
- Improves your knowledge of business practices and allows you to appreciate the importance of working relationships and their contribution to a company’s activities.
- Develops your understanding of the national and international business environment.
- Shows you that experience is as important as academic knowledge.
- Develops your transferable and interpersonal skills such as team working, communication, problem-solving and commercial awareness.
- Gives you a better understanding of your degree, helps you choose your modules in your final year of study, and potentially improves your final degree classification.
- Builds your confidence.
- Helps you build a valuable professional network and meet new friends.
- Gives you exciting new experiences – especially if you choose to live in another city or country.
- Gives you an experience in your chosen industry so you can make informed decisions about your future career path.
- Gives you the ability to talk more authoritatively about your experiences during future job interviews.
- Consolidates your ideas for a dissertation or major project.
- Introduces you to potential role models and mentors for your personal and professional development.
When should you start looking?
You should start looking for placement opportunities early in your second year, but opportunities will be advertised throughout the year. The later you leave it, the harder it will be to find a placement.
Discover placement opportunities
University of Portsmouth placement offices can help you find a suitable placement or prepare for a self-employed placement year or short-term placement. They’ll also support you during your placement.
- The University has many links with organizations and companies from various industries and backgrounds, and our placement offices can help with tasks such as:
- Keeping you updated about potential placement year jobs
- Helping you to identify suitable roles to apply for
- Putting together your CV, cover letters, application forms, and portfolio
- Holding mock interviews and assessment centers, application reviews and interview preparation
- Helping you meet potential employers at employability events
- Carrying out pre-placement checks such as occupational health checks, the disclosure and barring service (DBS), and the mandatory training framework.
- You can also get help with applying and interviewing for your placement from our Careers and Employability Service. It provides resources to help you locate potential placement providers, prepare applications and plan for placement interviews. The team can also support you if you choose a self-employed placement year.
Submit your application to study at the University of Portsmouth, UK: http://bitly.com/UOP-UK
We will do your full process without any charge.