Inspiration from YIB students during Lockdown

Times are challenging. Office based Year in Business students out on placement are now working from home. The University has moved teaching and 1:1 Career consultations online using MS teams. Students can access a wealth of material from the Careers and Employability moodle page as well as company led employability webinars (as featured on the Careers’ event portal) Technology allows us to be connected and to carry on. While some companies are no longer offering placements in 2020/21, there are still a number seeking placement students and using online recruitment processes. YIBs continue to receive the weekly vacancy bulletin and have been encouraged to keep applying. 

We were delighted to hear this week of YIB Stephen Morse securing a Cloud Business placement with VMWare.

YIBs out on placement are also keen to encourage 2^nd years in their placement search, particularly during these difficult COVID-19 times and will be available for a number of Q&A sessions via MS teams. Karen Lensink from the Placement Place office has initiated these with the first 2 sessions taking place this week:

Thursday April 30^th : 1.30 – 2.30pm and

Friday May 1^st : 1.30 – 2.30pm.

Whenever we talk to former YIBs, whether at the Call Back afternoon at the University or during the placement visits at their workplaces, we are delighted to hear of the progress they are making and their positive comments about undertaking a placement year. Likewise it is so heartening when former YIBs contact us to let us know how much of a difference the Year in Business made to their Career prospects. We do hope these positive words are encouraging to 2^nd year YIBs at this time.

One of our YIBs who did a placement year at SAP last year working in the office of the COO was given a Graduate job of Chief of Staff with the company. No wonder Andreas says that “Year in Business is the best thing you can do at University” For Andrea the placement allowed him to gain business awareness and understanding, to secure a Graduate job and to grow as a person”

Read more about Andrea’s placement at SAP here: http://yearinbusiness.blogspot.com/2018/12/andrea-sap.html

Another former YIB Niall Casson graduated with a First Class degree from Royal Holloway last summer and let us know about the Graduate position he has secured in the City as a Junior Marketing manager with Root Capital. Niall did his placement year with SME Lemonade Reward and is very clear that it was the placement which helped him secure his Graduate position.

Niall says: "My placement year at Lemonade was fundamental in building a career after graduation, the experience and responsibility throughout the year was invaluable in securing my current role. The YIB program allowed my employer to focus on the quality of my experience rather than using age and years in service as a gauge on ability and skillset. A quality placement year can really set you up for a successful career and I couldn’t recommend it highly enough."

Current Year in Business students have produced video profiles which give a flavour of the roles they are undertaking.

Inesa is doing an Account Manager placement with Awin, the Affiliate Marketing network which delivers marketing solutions for advertisers, agencies and publishers around the world. In her video she talks about loving the company culture which is young, supportive, dynamic and positive. She talks of how the “Year in Business is a good way to start your career instead of waiting until you graduate and how it builds confidence” Inesa says that she has already learnt so much and is looking forward to being able to put all she has learnt into a dissertation or other project when back at University for her final year.  http://yibprofile.blogspot.com/2020/02/inesa-awin-global-account-management.html

Saniya is doing a Sales placement with Atos IT Services, the multinational information technology service and consulting company. In the video, Saniya talks about loving her client facing role, her involvement in bid management, talking to the customer and the opportunities for travel. She advises students making applications to think about creating their own personal brand so that they can differentiate their applications from those of others competing for the same role. http://yibprofile.blogspot.com/2020/02/saniya-atos-sales.html

More student videos, packed full of advice and insights into different company placements, can be found on the Year in Business blog. We hope you enjoy listening to the students.  
 http://yibprofile.blogspot.com/2019/11/rhyib02-yr2-advice-v3.html
 http://yibprofile.blogspot.com/

Read more about the benefits of doing a placement year in this artlcle: http://yearinbusiness.blogspot.com/2019/04/students-promote-year-in-business.html

For 2^nd year YIBs do remember that there is still considerable time to secure a placement (deadline is not until July 31^st) and support is available from Katharine and Karen in the Placement Place office