Christmas is only just over a week away and as I type I can still see some snow!  You’re probably in a rush to get home or to wherever you’re spending the Christmas vacation and graduate schemes, placements for next summer or the next academic year may well be the last thing on your mind.

They should be! Some deadlines will close during the Christmas and New Year period, so now’s the time to make any applications to those schemes that close soon.  You don’t want to leave it until New Year’s Eve to fill in the form that closes on January 1st because a) you never know how long it will take/when your internet connection my freeze up and b) some schemes may have a stated closing date but may be really full already so you don’t want to lessen your chances by being on the last-minute.

If you have a look at the vacancies section on our website, you’ll be able to search through the vacancies that are live on our system now and start making your applications.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the Industrial placement schemes on there now which close in the next few weeks:

• Merck, Sharp & Dohme Formulation Placement – closes: 30 December 2009
• 3M Industrial Placement Opportunities – closes: 31 December 2009
• ConocoPhillips IT Assistant – closes: 1 January 2010
• Atkins Global Student Placements – closes: 10 January 2010
• IBM Industrial Placement Scheme – closes: 31 January 2010

The following internships (easter or summer) close in the same period:

• Morgan Stanley Finance Summer Intern Programme, London – closes: 31 December 2009
• Civil Service Summer Diversity of Internship Programme – closes: 4 January 2010
• Macquarie Summer Internship Opportunities – closes: 6 January 2010
• UBS Insights Course (in March 2010 for those graduating 2012) – closes: 17 January 2010

Graduate Schemes with deadlines approaching are:

• BSkyB Future Talent Graduate Marketing Scheme (and other roles) – closes: 28 December 2009
• The Environment Agency Graduate and Sponsorship Engineers – closes: 30 December 2009
• Merlin Entertainments Graduate Management Programme – closes: 8 January 2010
• Unilever Future Leaders Programme – closes: 8 January 2010

So, while you’re off over the Christmas vacation don’t forget to check if any organisations you are interested in have deadlines approaching.  If they do, good luck with your applications!

Manchester Metropolitan University Business School are holding a Placement Fair & Career Development Day on Wednesday 25th November in partnership with Pro Manchester, a corporate membership organisation representing the 240,000 employed in the financial and professional service community in and around Greater Manchester.

The Fair is open to all students from MMU, Salford and The University of Manchester to attend. Open to students studying on any year of any course (undergraduate or postgraduate) but may be of particular interest to those interested in; Business, Marketing, Accounting, Finance, IT, Computing, Law, Media, Advertising and PR.

More details follow…

Wednesday 25th November – 12.30 pm – 3.30 pm

John Dalton Building, Oxford Road (opposite BBC)

The Fair is a fantastic opportunity for students seeking placements, internships, projects, vacation work or graduate positions. Come along and network with employers and gain professional advice about the opportunities available.

Exhibiting organisations include; Kellogg’s, Deloitte, General Motors, MC2, Aldi, Barclays, Grant Thornton, Rate My Placement, Cobbetts, Zurich, SSL International, HSBC, Enterprise Rent a Car, Jepson Holt, Pro Manchester, Willis, Manchester Masters, IBM, Kintish, The Co-operative Group, The Rainmaker Academy, DWF, Adidas, Ralli Solicitors, Oxygen, Outokumpu Stainless Ltd, KPMG, Wireless CCTV & Cellhire, Weber Shandwick, HSBC, Heath Lambert, GMPTE, Aviva Insurance and Financial Services Skills Council

Find out what it is like to work for a particular company or in a particular sector by attending one of four employer led workshops. You can register for these on the day.

Find out more and pre-register online now at:
http://www.business.mmu.ac.uk/placements/placementfair

Manchester Metropolitan University are holding a Placement Fair and Career Development Day on Wednesday 4th February 2009 from 12.30-3.30pm in John Dalton Building (opposite the BBC on Oxford Road).  Students from Manchester University are welcome to attend.

The Fair is a fantastic opportunity for students seeking placements, internships, projects, vacation work or graduate positions.  If  you go along you can network with employers and gain professional advice about the opportunities available.   To find out what it’s like to work for a particular company or in a particular sector, you can attend one of four employer led workshops - register for these on the day.

It’s open to students studying on any year of any course but may be of particular interest to those studying; Business, Marketing, Accounting, Finance, IT, Computing, Law, Media, Advertising and PR.

For a list of exhibitors and to pre-register to attend, visit the event page on the  MMU Business School website.

If you need to find an industrial placement for next academic year and you’re interested in roles HR, environmental project management or business analysis and want to stay in Manchester, read on.

The Co-operative Group is offering 12-month placements for undergraduates or graduates starting in September, and so far they’ve told us they’ve had surprisingly few applications from University of Manchester students for the 3 placements in the above areas.  So why not apply? The Co-op offers a salary of £14k as well as training opportunities and other benefits. Check out the following placements on the Co-op website:

• Location Analysis Support Officer, Food Retail Location Analysis
• Energy and Environment Project Co-ordinator, Group Property Division
• Employee Engagement Assistant, Corporate Communications

Application deadline for these is 31 January so be quick!