No-one needs to tell you that those great graduate jobs go to students who can showcase a colourful patchwork of vibrant skills and cast iron competencies.
So many reasons to start checking out the really brilliant summer placements and internships now.

You can do this the torturous way (put it to the back of your mind, eat a burrito, waste time in a million ways and then find yourself broke and bored this summer) OR take the short cut and do something now which will jump start your plans for a brilliant summer. You choose.
The torturous way – you’re on your own.
The easy way – check this out – the best guide to placements and volunteering with all the links and contacts you need

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/students/futures/files/13._Work_Experience_and_Volunteering.pdf

If you’re interested in gaining some interesting work experience relevant to your degree by volunteering in Africa there are some innovative placements available with an organisation called Big Beyond. It’s the chance to work across a range of high-impact projects that support conservation and development. All their sites are located next to national parks and it’s an opportunity to truly immerse in another culture and travel to fascinating places. They tailor your placement around your field of study, skills you’d like to develop and also your interests, so it’s a great way to add something strong to your CV and help boost your future career. If you’re looking for inspiring options for your placement year, dissertation or for something adventurous and productive to do this summer that puts your learning into practice these placements could be really beneficial. 

We offer both Long term placements from 13 weeks – 12 months and Short term placements from 2 – 12 weeks.       
 

International volunteering is the opportunity to travel to fantastic places and genuinely immerse within a very different culture.  Holidays should of course be a fun and refreshing time out from the library, but they’re also an opportunity to be productive and build up your CV in preparation for graduation or gain applicable experience for the upcoming academic year. It’s really a perfect summer expedition for any stage of a degree course.       

A volunteer placement with Big Beyond is the opportunity to:

• Get hands-on international work experience with a difference 
• Use and develop skills and knowledge acquired during university
• Contextualise academic work and build experience that can be applied to your academic studies
• Return home with new skills and knowledge that will last a lifetime
• Add something powerful to your CV that will stand out for years
• Be inspired and shape career choices
• Make a genuine difference to local people’s lives and the world’s protected conservation areas
• Demonstrate an understanding of different cultures, crucial for the global workplace
• Experience the diversity of this world geographically, culturally, economically and socially
• Gain leadership skills way ahead of peers
• Wow future employers

Places are available from April 2012 but are limited so don’t miss out!

Complete an online application form on the website or send your CV and covering letter to: answers@bigbeyond.org

For a full listing of all advertised graduate opportunities, work experience or placement opportunities advertised by the Careers Service please visit Vacancies Online.

I hope the exams didn’t go too badly. With the start of the new semester comes the opportunity to start looking at summer projects within the department, in fact some of you may have done so already. In the middle of last semester we gave you a presentation on summer projects. how to approach people, how to get funding, and what other people have done. Here is a link to the bare bones of the talk Summer Projects talk. Further information on funding can be found at  http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/pandaweb/admin/vacplacements.htm on the university website.

Deadlines for funding are

Smaller Awards within department (Closing date: 24 February 2012): see above link

URIP has not yet released the deadline, but theirs is usually just before spring break.

Welcome trust has a deadline around April too.

Just a few tips:-

• Think about what aspects of physics interest you, you want to do something that you’ll enjoy over summer.
• Look around the school’s website, details on our research groups can be found here http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/research/index.php
• As well as emailing future supervisors, go meet them in person.
• If the person you want to work with doesn’t have any places, don’t be disheartened, ask them if they know anyone else who may want to take on a research student.
• Be aware the maths department does summer projects too, and though placements are more limited, they tend to all be funded.

I hope this has been helpful, if you have any more questions email the society.

Applications for the Unilever Future Leaders Programme close this week on Friday 13th January so this is your final chance to get your applications in! Applications for graduates are still open for one of the following areas – Financial Management, Supply Chain Management, Customer Development, Business & Technology Management, Human Resources.

Unilever, a leading consumer goods company, makes some of the world’s best loved brands: Dove, Flora, Tresemmé, Comfort, Knorr and Marmite to name a few. 150 million times a day, someone somewhere chooses a Unilever product. Our products are sold in 180 countries and we employ 167,000 people globally.

Whichever area you join, you’ll learn business fast. The two-year scheme involves placements across our UK & Ireland business with responsibility from day one, alongside excellent training in leadership and business. We’ll support you in achieving Chartered status and qualifications such as CIMA, IMechE, IchemE, IEE and CIPD.  When the programme ends, you’ll move into a management role.

Unilever want graduates with the will to lead others in driving these brands forward. The Future Leaders Programme helps that talent reach senior management. Quickly. Graduates who succeed at Unilever are excited by business, relish competition and customer satisfaction and have the ambition to succeed.

To find out more or apply visit our website www.unilever.co.uk/graduates or speak to us online http://twitter.com/unilevergradsuk

Summer / Industrial placements – PENULTIMATE YEAR STUDENTS

Applications for Unilever Summer placements and Industrial placements close this week on Friday 13th January so this is your final chance to get your applications in!

Summer Placement (12 Weeks)

Applications are still open for our Summer placement programme for penultimate year students, running for 12 weeks and allowing students to gain experience in Supply Chain Management, Financial Management, Research & Development, Customer Development and Marketing. Students who successfully pass our Summer placement programme will have the opportunity to be fast-tracked to the ‘Selection Day’ stage for our Future Leaders Programme.

Unilever, a leading consumer goods company, makes some of the world’s best loved brands: Dove, Flora, Tresemmé, Comfort, Knorr and Marmite to name a few. 150 million times a day, someone somewhere chooses a Unilever product. Our products are sold in 180 countries and we employ 167,000 people globally.

Unilever want students who will help us in driving these brands forward. The Future Leaders Programme helps that talent reach senior management. Quickly. Graduates who succeed at Unilever are excited by business, relish competition and customer satisfaction and have the ambition to succeed.

To find out more or apply visit our website www.unilever.co.uk/graduates or speak to us online http://twitter.com/unilevergradsuk

Industrial Placement (12 Months) – PENULTIMATE YEAR STUDENTS

Applications are still open for our Industrial Placement programme which allows to gain experience in Supply Chain Management, Financial Management, Human Resources, Research & Development, Customer Development, Marketing or Business & Technology Management. Students must have completed a minimum of two years of a degree and be returning to study after their placement. Students who successfully pass our industrial placement programme will be offered a place on our Future Leaders Programme.

Professor A. Venkat Raman, Placement Convener, FMS, said: “We are satisfied with the summer internship offers this year. Apart from roles in finance and marketing which have been the traditional strongholds, we also witnessed significant diversity in the profiles offered.” According to FMS, a record number of 145 companies had confirmed their presence in the placement drive this year, though 91 finally visited the campus. The rest could not visit the campus as all students had already been placed. “This year the response of the companies and the offers they made have been much better. We also got companies which havent been coming for summer placements for the last couple of years,” said Nagraj Chandrasekar, Media Coordinator, FMS.

This time, we had more private equity firms which are known to pay more. This explains the steep rise in the stipends this time, he said. Chandrasekar said coveted profiles like treasury, HR and risk management were offered, besides the traditional ones. No wonder, students are upbeat about the placement scene this year. According to them, summer jobs help companies discover the best talents on.

Source: The Times of India, November 16, 2010

BANGALORE: Pre-placement offers from all sectors pouring in for IIM grad class 2010

IIM-B:

• Consulting firms that participated in last year’s summer placement announced PPO results – all students received PPOs.
• Vineet Sharma, Placement rep :  IIM-B is only institute with 100% success rate – better than even last year.
• Last year’s PPO highlights:
  • 120 companies confirmed participation for 270 students
  • 12 consulting firms participated in these process – McKinsey & Co, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Co. etc.
  • Consulting majors Alvarez & Marsal and Result recruited for the 1st time.
• Last year’s summer placement breakdown:
  • consulting – 24%
  • finance – 21%
  • investment banking – 20%
  • marketing – 13%
  • general management – 13%
  • 2-3 international offers as well.

Source: Economic Times << Full Article here