Farah's top tips for seeking a placement - incoming HR placement student at Morgan Stanley

This is a guest post from 2nd year Royal Holloway Year in Business student, Farah Hanif, who has just secured a Human Resources placement with Morgan Stanley commencing in the summer 2021. Farah shares her top tips for students seeking a placement.

My name is Farah and I have just secured a Human Resources Industrial Placement with Morgan Stanley. I am going to be talking about my application process for my Year in Business.

On my first week of my first year of university, I attended a Year in Business lecture which was very informative and really excited me for my year out. However, there was one statement that shocked me and stuck with me until I received my placement; only 50% of people on the YIB pathway actually secure a placement! From this point onwards, I was desperate to educate myself on this topic and find out what opportunities were available to me. I compiled a list of companies that I was interested in, but at this early stage in year one of university, this was all I could do. I regret not talking more to students in their second year and asking for their advice and tips in cover letters or interview etiquette.

Before my second year of university started, the one thing on my mind was my placement and with the coronavirus pandemic making it difficult for even experienced professionals to find jobs, I was even more panicked. I signed up to RateMyPlacement.com, which is undoubtedly the most useful website to use when looking for jobs. It allows you to filter by role, location and many other factors and it allowed me to find companies I would not have thought of previously. It also lets you register your interest to companies and emails you when applications open. The YIB team also sent weekly emails detailing different opportunities available to us. These two resources were definitely the most useful to me, as my strategy was to play the numbers game; apply to as many places as possible and hopefully one will come back to me! 

Work Experience

By this point, I had already made my CV. As we are students and we usually do not have a huge amount of relevant work experience, I bulked out my CV to two pages by adding a list of 3 or 4 bullet points of relevant skills underneath each education or work experience. For example, I said that my current degree contributed towards my teamwork, leadership and time management skills and my work experience in a Marketing department of a head office helped with my analysis and research skills. Most of my work experience is in teaching (I volunteered at a Sunday school for three years and then was a private tutor for two years). Although not strictly relevant to HR, I mentioned in my CV and cover letter that it helped with my people and empathy skills. I also highlighted that I had experience with specialist software and data analysis in my teaching roles, which employers won’t know about otherwise. It is best to emphasise parts of your work experience that you think are even a little bit relevant to the role you are applying for. 

Cover Letters

I also had a generic structure for cover letters. It is vitally important to write a different cover letter for each company you apply for. My structure meant that it did not take too long to write a letter for each company. I recommend about 400-500 words and this is the structure I used:

First line: who are you, what are you applying for

First paragraph: research the core values of the company and match them to your values, show that you are a good fit to their culture

Second paragraph: go more into depth about your relevant work experience and prove you would thrive in this role. (as this is about your personal work experience and not specific to the company, you can copy and paste this paragraph into all cover letters)

Third paragraph: show your passion for the industry, mention previous encounters with the industry and flatter the company! Let them know how useful their placement would be to you.

Last line: end with a positive sentence, the last thing they read should leave them with a good impression of you; mention how enthusiastic and grateful you would be and how eager you are to contribute.

Recruitment Process

I started to apply to placements in August, which was apparently a lot earlier than others. Although many companies do not start the application process until the new year, there are so many opportunities before then that people miss out on because they are distracted with the start of their second year or they are simply unaware. I applied to a total of about 15 different companies, got onto the psychometric testing stage with 6 of them, had 2 telephone interviews, and attended 2 virtual assessment centres. One of my assessment centres included a group exercise with other candidates, a pre-prepared individual presentation, and an interview. Another assessment centre comprised of a strength-based interview, a case study, and a data exercise. I was lucky to receive an offer the day after my assessment centre and then I felt a great sense of relief that I have got this in the bag, and I can focus on the rest of my year.

My tips for applying:

·         Understand that getting a placement is difficult, but not impossible with the right prep!

·         Speak to students going through this process currently.

·         Make use of the YIB team to go over your CV and cover letters (I definitely should have taken more advantage of this)

·         Write a specific cover letter for each company; don’t use a generic one

·         Make an account with RateMyPlacement.com

·         Start applying as soon as you can!

·         Familiarise yourself with your CV and experience when in an interview

·         Familiarise yourself with facts and history about the industries and companies you are interviewing for

·         Dress formal for your interviews/assessment centres; it is better to be overly smart than not smart enough

·         Prepare to be flexible on location; a placement further away is better than no placement at all

Be confident in yourself and your abilities. It shows in your demeanour and goesa long way!