Networking at the Year in Business Speed Recruitment event - October 2025

Despite the darker nights setting in, it was good to see so many business students attending Royal Holloway’s Year in Business Speed Recruitment event in the Business School this week. 2^nd year students seeking placements in 2026/27 networked at full speed, making career-defining connections with a number of well known companies as well as gaining advice from YIBs who have already been out on placement. There was a real sense of energy in the room.

 

From the bustle of the companies setting up their stands at the beginning of the evening, to the happy buzz of conversations taking place, this event demonstrated the key career connections that can be formed while studying in the School of Business

Every year the School of Business’ Year in Business team invite a range of companies offering placement roles to attend their ‘Speed Recruitment Evening’, held on campus. The event is an opportunity for all Year in Business second year students, currently trying to secure a placement, to interact and network with potential employers and find out more about what the companies have on offer. This has always been run in January, but this year we are looking at running it twice a year with a second event in October.

 After an initial briefing the students were able to move about the event, stopping to chat to the representatives at the company stands they chose, but moving on when the bell was rung to give everyone a chance to discuss the placement roles on offer and find out if they might be a suitable match. From accounting/finance, sales and HR, to marketing and management, students explored a diverse range of placement opportunities, gaining firsthand insights into potential roles and career paths.

 

Students had the unique chance to connect with leading companies such as 3M, Canon, De Vere, Enterprise Mobility, Honda, Menzies LLP, RSM, many of whom brought current/ previous placement students who could offer invaluable advice based on their own experience of being on the other side of the table.

 

Many of our final-year Year in Business students and mentors were also on hand to talk about their experience securing and completing a placement year. These students shared experiences at companies including Arithma LLP, Bayer, BMW, EBay, Elida Beauty, Intel, SEO London, Siemens, Unilever.

 

The enthusiasm demonstrated by our second-year students during the event is a testament to their desire to secure a placement and drive to succeed. All the companies who attended gave positive feedback about the students’ engagement levels and the quality of the questions asked.

The evening finished with a more relaxed atmosphere as slices of pizza were offered and the networking continued over more informal conversations. Similar events in previous years have seen many of the students who attend going on to secure placement roles because of the connections they make on the night, so we are eager to see how our current second-year students get on this year.

 The Year in Business option is a fantastic opportunity for students to gain invaluable real-world experience before they graduate, improving their employability and presenting them with career options they may not have considered previously. The connections they form during this year help to establish their network before they graduate and take the first steps on their career journey. Many students return to university for their final year with a deeper understanding of their knowledge of business gained from the hands-on learning they experienced during the placement.

 The Year in Business option is offered alongside all our undergraduate degree courses, with students from across the school opting to take part. The Year in Business is taken during the third year of their four-year degree course, allowing for two years of learning at university, a paid placement of between nine to twelve months in their third year, and a return to study at university for their fourth year, in order to complete their degree. Students can start their placement any time between June -September at the end of their second year.

 Discover how the Year in Business can fast-track your future at royalholloway.ac.uk/year-in-business. If you represent a company interested in advertising placements to our business students please contact MN-YIB@rhul.ac.uk

Celebrating the success of the Year in Business Graduates - class of 2025

It was a real pleasure to support the Graduation Ceremonies for Royal Holloway’s Business School students on Tuesday 22nd July. I particularly enjoyed speaking with our Year in Business (YIB) students about their university journey, placement experiences, and plans for the future, and in many cases, meeting their proud families too. 

 It was a very special ceremony in the University's Windsor Building: a long line of Year in Business students processed in front of the Provost and Pro Vice Chancellor, the Dean of the School of Business, academic staff, friends and family to receive their certificates. The event also featured several heartfelt speeches, including an inspiring address by the Student Orator. 

Special congratulations goes to Dillon McEvilly, who was awarded the Year in Business Prize for achieving the highest overall academic record amongst YIB students. Dillon completed a successful placement with the NHS and has already returned there to begin his graduate career. It was lovely to catch up with him and hear how much he gained from the experience. 

 

We are immensely proud of all our Year in Business graduates. Securing a placement can be a demanding process requiring true resilience, and for many, the placement year itself brings new challenges. We’re glad to have supported them along the way and are always inspired by their growth and achievements. 

Many of our final-year YIBs give back by volunteering as YIB Mentors, sharing their insights and supporting students preparing for their own placement journeys. Their contributions to workshops and events are incredibly valuable and appreciated. 

 Looking ahead, some of our graduates are continuing their studies, while others are returning to the companies where they completed their placements, including Cooper Parry, Cooper Vision, Enterprise Mobility, NHS, Samsung and Simmons & Simmons. Many more have used their placement experience to secure roles with prestigious employers such as Emirates, Ferrero, Finbourne Technology, Ivy Rock Partners and PwC. Congratulations to all our graduates! 

If I didn’t get a chance to catch up with you after the ceremony, please do stay in touch. The Year in Business team would love to hear where your placements have taken you — your stories are a source of inspiration for the next generation of students and we hope to welcome you back to the Business School at future events.

April Call Back afternoon at Royal Holloway

 It was great to see our placement students on April 7th at our 2nd Call Back afternoon of the year. We have over 70 business students out on placement, our largest cohort to date, and we were delighted that the majority of these had managed to secure time off from their placement companies to attend our workshops - one even came in from Scotland. The sun was shining at Royal Holloway and Dr Kerrie Howard, the Year in Business Director, and myself, were impressed to hear of what our students have been achieving on placement.

Students who attended were undertaking a range of Business, Marketing, Finance/ Accounting, Sales, HR and Project Management placements. The companies they represented included Ascot Wealth Management, AzkoNobel, Bayer, Boeing, Cancer Research, Elida Gibbs, Enterprise Mobility, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hilton, Honda, L’Oreal, Network Rail, NHS, Pernod Ricard, SAP, Siemens, SLB, The Walt Disney Company, TJX, Unilever, Volkswagen, Wyndham Hotel group and many, many more including several local companies.

Most of these students have now been with their placement organisations for nine months or more and are clearly gaining huge benefits from the placement experience in terms of the projects they are getting involved in and skills they are developing. This includes getting into the routine of the working day which will certainly help on their return to University in the Autumn - no late nights or mornings lazing about in bed for these students on workdays. Students have been undertaking real and interesting work with quite a lot of responsibility from day one and the need to juggle different priorities.

The afternoon included a discussion on the challenges students had faced on placement and 2 interactive workshops on the Academic assessment they have to complete as part of their placement. Students must produce a personal development portfolio which illustrates how they have developed competencies while on placement and a poster, which links their experience on placement to a Management theory they studied during their first 2 years at University.

The competency workshop was led by Career Consultant Jo Edmondson. Thinking about competencies the students have mastered, or found difficult on placement, and articulating these via the STAR format, has the additional advantage of being useful for students when applying for their Graduate positions. Often being able to articulate the difficult things which have been mastered can make for some of the best examples for discussion in interview. The poster workshop, led by Dr Kerrie Howard, gave the students the chance to discuss draft examples and recommend how to improve these both in terms of content and visual appearance.

A massive thank you to all the students for attending and we look forward to seeing you all at our Reintegration meeting in the Autumn term when returning for the final year. Enjoy the remainder of your placements!