Case studies

"Do not be afraid to make mistakes or feel completely helpless within programming as this is completely normal, practise really does make perfect!"

"Know your goals at the offset and understand what it is that you want to achieve and begin to work a realistic plan to achieve these.  Utilise the support you have around you, be that your lecturers or your peers too."

"The Career and Employability Services were my first point of contact who provided me feedback in regards what my level of competence was, relative to the industry requirements."

"I would not have been able to get this role so quickly if it hadn’t been for the Career and Employability Services!"

‘Take advantage of the excellent support the Career and Employability Team offer. If you do, you’re more likely to achieve your career goals’.

Programme Management Officer, PwC, London

Some of my responsibilities include managing the programme’s plan, creating board packs for senior management, assure the financial stability of the Programme and report against the project plan.

Graduate Engineer/Sub Agent, Colas, Leeds

I’m a graduate engineer/sub agent at Colas Limited in Leeds. Colas is a leading contracting company that delivers sustainable solutions for the design, construction and maintenance of transport infrastructure including highways, airfields and structures. Colas also manufactures its own bitumen and emulsion products.

As a Cloud Data Engineer in Next’s Business Intelligence Department, I design, develop and maintain Microsoft Azure-based solutions according to business requirements. Defining technical requirements, development, testing and documentation to support productionised solutions, alongside the operations support team and within an Agile framework is also required. Finally, sharing knowledge, offering input and assistance to the wider team whilst building my skills are the greatest parts of what I do.

Senior Consultant Health Care, Berenschot, Netherlands

As a Senior Consultant in one of the largest consultancy businesses in the Netherlands, I am providing municipalities, healthcare providers, the Association of Dutch Municipalities and the ministries with advice on the realisation of quality youth and elderly care. In addition, my role as a Senior Consultant, I was elected as Councillor in Nijmegen (the 10th largest city in the Netherlands) and have been a member of the Board of Directors of Plan International Belgium (international NGO) since 2013.

Graduate Emissions Testing Specialist, Johnson Matthey, Royston

I work with customer quality and the manufacturing plant at Johnson Matthey setting specifications for products and providing support for local engineers to meet customer demands.

Field Service Engineer, Canon Medical Systems, Yorkshire

My role involves myself going out to various hospitals and servicing and maintaining Ultrasound equipment associated with Canon Medical Systems. The role requires travelling to various locations up and down the country as well as Europe.

I gained employment with the Leicester Royal Infirmary NHS as a Clinical Technologist. My job is basically to be a 'specialist engineer' for a range of medical equipment and undertake planned preventive maintenance, calibration, servicing, fault-finding and repair to a wide range of equipment. This is all very exciting for me and I look forward to converting my theoretical knowledge into practical experience.

The Edison Engineering Development Programme is a graduate scheme involving three 8-month rotations over a 2 year period, whereby graduates will be trained in over 30 different areas ranging from Software, Electronics, Mechanical, Project management and more. The site I will be working at specialises in Avionics Systems, and therefore I will be involved in working on plenty of new exciting projects.

The Software Engineering Graduate Scheme involves undertaking a twelve week training programme in C#, Microsoft SQL Server and software testing. I will then be joining the Product Development Team as an Associate Engineer and work on live projects.

'Don’t be demotivated if you don’t hear anything back from employers, from my personal experience I felt like I was sending my CV into a void at times, but I didn’t give up!'

'Never give up – Keep trying hard and there will always be someone there that will want you.'

'Use the Career and Employability Services as much as possible and from as early as possible. Even if students are proactively looking for a role themselves (speculative applications), the Service is valuable in the support they provide!'

"I can say I went from being nervous to being absolutely confident in any interview scenario. The practise and experience gained from these sessions really helped me and made me much more of an employable person in the eyes of the interviewer."

I have been offered a placement as an Aftertreatment Integration Test Engineer, with Cummins Emissions Solutions in Darlington (starting July 2021).  Aftertreatment technology is a vital component in the diesel engines; an aftertreatment system is used to reduce harmful exhaust emissions from internal-combustion engines to meet emissions regulation.

As a Software Engineering Intern (commencing June 2021), I will be responsible for writing quality production code along with test automation to deliver against project timescales and requirements. I will be involved in developing features for anti-virus software on different operating systems for both mobile phones and laptops/personal computers. I will also be actively contributing to release planning and software solutions within the agile team environment.

Structural Engineer in a leading civil engineering company that provides engineering services in various sectors, such as water, infrastructure, energy and environment in a structural team, my day-to-day work will be design of buildings, including the general body of the building as well as structural calculations. It will be an office-based placement; however, there might be some on-site visits, depending on the project requirements.

Placement Chemical Engineer (shadowing the Chemical Process Engineer) with Consort Medical working in an anodising factory that process components for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

I have been given the responsibility of looking at increasing control on the anodising plant, gaining information from suppliers, trial units, quotes, feasibility study etc. My second project is a semi bright replacement project/ DESAD replacement project, so I will be performing initial validation trials, feasibility testing on the titanium frames and on the anodising plants as well as components.

Software Intern working with audio product electronics development, python scripting, Software development and working with schematics and automation design tools.

Placement with Microsoft Ltd, Reading (July 2018 – June 2019)

My role is a Technical Account Manager (TAM) and I work within Microsoft Enterprise Services. TAM is a trusted Advisor who is looking for ways to improve and support customers’ IT infrastructure and engage Microsoft Services to provide relevant technical solutions.

Placement with Rolls Royce Motor Cars - I am within Ownership Services and Parts Operations. I am based at Rolls-Royce’s Head Office in Goodwood, which is the central hub for the brand. 

Placement with Channel 5, London (June 2018 – June 2019)

I was recruited as a Creative Intern for 12 months with Channel 5 and started work in June 2018.  In my role, I will have various responsibilities such as editing promos for on-air use, media managing, archiving and maintaining the server. Additional responsibilities include helping freelancers get set up, assisting on shoots and managing 5Creative social media page.

I started my placement role as a Project Support Officer (IT) on 3^rd September at HMRC. 

The team I was placed in specialise in software design. They work in a manner called agile delivery and the aim of this project is to create a secure data exchange service that can be used on the HMRC website for big organisations to transfer files securely.

I have completed my placement year at Yorkshire Water as a Master Data Administrator. During this year, I have been assigned to different projects, like GDPR, and Vendor Data Project.

Placement with GSK, Maidenhead (July 2018 – July 2019)

I am employed as a Process Engineer in the plant’s Technical department. While my main project for the year will be to reduce the batch cycle time for toothpaste manufacture, I will also be supporting other areas of the plant from a process standpoint.

Placement with Hycrome Aerospace, Burnley (June 2018 – Aug 2019)

As a  Process Technician, I am responsible for assisting with process control in the Chemical Laboratory and Material Laboratory; carrying out assessment of test pieces in line with customer requirements.

Currently, I am in charge of a multi million pounds project at BASF. The aim of the project is to analyse the current system that generate steam and electricity to the whole plant, and to decide if the current system is still the way forward.

I am currently doing a year-long industrial placement at Bradford Council, working as a Solutions Architect. As part of my responsibilities, I will be developing experience in designing effective solutions and working very closely with customers in order to gather specific briefs and requirements.

"When it came to applying for university, my family really wanted me to go, but I just felt I wasn’t interested enough in a subject to commit three years of my life to it while not really earning. Degree apprenticeships were kind of unheard of back then, but when I saw that Morrisons offered a degree apprenticeship in Business Management at Bradford, and you could work there while you studied, I knew that was the way to go for me."

"Doing a placement is a great idea especially for anyone on the career switch path. It affords you the opportunity to experience how things are done in whatever industry you end up in."

"You get the opportunity to learn while working, get the full support of team members and work with less pressure."

"It’s a worthwhile experience, because you learn everyday."

"Go for value over money, go for an opportunity to learn and get shaped"

'The University's guidance, resources, and practical experience enhanced my employability'.

'One standout moment was when I secured an interview opportunity. I promptly scheduled a session with Careers, and their expert guidance equipped me with the confidence and skills necessary to excel during the interview, which I successfully did.'

"For me, the BEA (ACP) Award really helps me – I would recommend that you register and fully participate in the activities."

Placement with GSK Pilot Engineering, Hertfordshire (Aug 2018 to Aug 2019)

 I will be starting at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in February 2019, and I have two main tasks; one is to assist my future team’s research projects and events such as annual conferences. The other is to conduct my own research which is about assessing the effectiveness of NATO’s environmental policy.

I advise students to build up their application forms and apply to a single company at a time rather than applying to ten or five companies at a time. This reduces the focus on each company and may reduce concentration during many interviews and the assessments. I applied to EY alone at first but couldn’t go through. My second application was to PwC alone as well, and it took some time to get through the process but I got an internship at their Leeds office. So applying to a single company at a time helps a lot.