Are you keen to add some work experience to your CV by completing a summer internship in 2021 or a yearlong sandwich placement for 2021/22? Applications for most of these programmes are now open, and many have closing dates well before the end of semester 1, so if you haven’t started your research into opportunities, get your skates on! To support you in your search for suitable internships and placements, we answer your frequently-asked questions:

Where are vacancies advertised?
As much as we’d love to tell you that there is one definitive website where all work experience opportunities for second years are advertised, there isn’t, so we’d recommend that you research your options across a number of different websites and sources:

• Start by looking at websites like Rate my Placement, Targetjobs, STEP, Year in Industry, Gradcracker (for students on science, technology, engineering and built environment courses), Prospects, E4S, Student Ladder, TotalJobs and LinkedIn Jobs. Companies advertising their placements on these sites will usually direct you back to their own careers pages for the actual application. Researching vacancies on Indeed can also give you a good overview of the range of placement opportunities – you can start with broader search terms like business placement or engineering placement, and then also try more specific searches like social media placement or software engineering placement.
• Use the job search on Careers Zone 24/7, and also check your LJMU email inbox regularly for updates and placement vacancies from lecturers and placement staff in your faculty (as they will often email vacancies they have sourced through their contacts in the industry). Contact the employability support or placement unit in your faculty -contact details are included in your school’s or faculty’s career planning guide – to find out how they share their vacancies, e.g. via a Canvas module or Facebook page.
• Read the placement case studies in the career planning guide for your school or faculty. In these, LJMU students and graduates reflect on their placements and provide useful tips for the application process. You can also search for graduates from your course on LinkedIn, and look at where they have done work experience and placements to generate additional ideas.
• Are there any companies you would like to work for? Have your family, friends, or lecturers given you some recommendations? Have you come across interesting companies during research for academic work or industry updates you have been reading in your spare time? Visit these organisations’ websites and search for any information about summer internships and yearlong placements. If you’re interested in a particular sector, running an internet search on e.g. retail placements helps you to find additional opportunities.

I haven’t found any placements that interest me. What can I do?

• Get creative! Research companies in the field that you are interested in and contact them directly to ask about any work experience and placement opportunities they offer. SMEs (i.e. smaller and medium-sized companies) might not regularly advertise placements, but are still likely to be open to enquiries and might offer opportunities for proactive and enthusiastic candidates. If you see a job advert for a graduate role that sounds interesting, contact the organisation and ask about work experience – as they are currently recruiting new staff, the company might be able to offer further opportunities.
• Take advantage of your personal and professional network. Who do you know that works in sectors and companies of interest to you? Could you ask them to pass on a copy of your CV to a manager or colleague at work?

I can’t see any placements advertised near where I live – what can I do?

• Use LinkedIn to find professionals working in your chosen field and region. For example, by searching for ‘building surveyor Belfast’ and setting your search results to ‘People’, you have effectively generated a list of organisations that employ building surveyors in Belfast. Check their websites for any details about potential placement or internship vacancies. If there aren’t any, look for contact details for careers-related enquiries and then get in touch with the company to ask if they offer work experience. If you can’t find anything on the company’s website, go back to LinkedIn and contact LinkedIn members working in companies of interest to you. (For more information about how to set up a great LinkedIn profile and use the platform for effective networking, download our LinkedIn guide.)

Also check part 2 of our placement special, where we answer your questions about applying for placements and summer internships, as well as part 3, which looks at online tests, interviews and assessment centres.