25th Nov Placement Fair and Career Development Day

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…

Long hot summer…

With the end of the academic year fast approaching, now’s a good time to think of how to boost your CV over the summer months.   Work experience can be invaluable.  The Shell Step scheme is now open to second year/penultimate year and final year students and offers eight-week paid placements with small and medium-sized companies and community organisations.   For other work experience ideas go to the work experience section of the Careers Service website. If you fancy doing a bit volunteering check out Time Bank and Do It.  Both will help you find something near to where you live.  And, of course, there’s volunteering info on the careers site that’s easy to register for and browse.   If you want to brush up your IT skills, or learn something new, why not ring the government backed careers advice service tel 0800 101 901, and ask about short courses.   However, it’s worth seeing what’s out there before you commit.   Finally, don’t forget to register for vacancies on our website so you don’t miss out!

Upcoming Careers Events

Now that term has started again, you will no doubt be busy with coursework, sports, part time jobs and much more.  You might think that you’ve not got much time to look for a summer placement or job at the moment.  However, you may be able to spare a little time to attend some of the events that the Careers Service has planned over the next month or so – and they could certainly help you in your search for a summer job or with ideas for after you graduate.

On Wednesday 4th March 2009, we will be holding our ‘Voluntary, Not- for- Profit and Public Sector Careers Fair’ at The Academy.  It’s a bit of a mouthful but definitely worth attending if you are looking for a summer placement or are interested in a career linked to these areas.  It’s a careers information fair but you will find some of the organisations there on the day will be offering summer placements or work experience.  Even if they aren’t, you might find it useful to find out a bit more about how to get into your chosen career area.

At the moment, organisations are still booking to attend so you might notice the list of exhibitors increase over the next few weeks.  Currently there are BUNAC, CCUSA and Raleigh International to name just a few.   We’ll also be blogging a little more about the fair as it approaches.

Check out the events sectionof our website to see everything that we have planned for the next few months including employer presentations, workshops, web chats and more.

Rough guide to finding an internship

Are you thinking about doing a summer internship, but haven’t started looking or secured one yet?  As the title says this is just a rough, quick guide to finding an internship.  Hopefully it will give you a few ideas of where to look and things to do to find an opportunity for summer 2009.  

Plan A- Find an internship you are interested in on the Careers Service website or on the company’s own website.  Ideally, ‘Plan A’ should be your first choice in terms of finding an internship.  You can search the vacancies on our website and application details will be included in the advert.  Depending on what you are looking to do and the sector you want to gain experience in, you may find that some of the closing dates have already passed for summer internships.  Never fear – there’s always Plan B…

Plan B – Find something from other sources.  ‘Why?’ and ‘What sources?’ I hear you cry.  Why – some companies don’t always advertise their opportunities with the Careers Service.  This might be because they get a lot of applications just from their website or that they advertise elsewhere.   Don’t just look at the big organisations but also check out smaller organisations.  What sources – there are lots of places that you can look.  A few sources to try include:

• Online Careers Library on our website (an online directory of what we have in the Careers Resource Centre)
• Careers Fairs pages on our website - these pages have details of fairs we have held this year as well as upcoming fairs.  Even though the fair has passed, you can look at the exhibitors who attended and the opportunities they had on offer.  Some may still have internships on offer.
• Local Libraries (including Central Library in Manchester) – libraries carry lots of different information and may have business directories you can browse.
• The Internet - you could try company websites, online directories, professional associations and organisations (i.e. organisations that deal with a sector/industry), to name just a few. 

Some of these ideas may seem really obvious to you – but searching through different publications and resources may give you ideas of additional companies you are interested in applying to.  You can then see if they have internships or opportunities advertised on their own website and apply.  If not, there’s always Plan C…

Plan C – If you can’t find anything advertised by the companies you are interested in working for, you could always make a speculative application.  This is when you send a CV and covering letter to an organisation, even though they may not have specifically advertised an opportunity.  It could be something you send by email or in the post.  It might seem scary but if you are comfortable in making such an application, it may be a great way to secure an internship for this summer.  

If you can, it’s always best to send your application to a named individual at the organisation rather than just to a generic email address or office address.  You could call a company’s general phone number to request a name or specific email address.   

Visit our website for advice about applications and tips on making speculative applications.  Keep an eye on this blog in the coming weeks for more about speculative applications.

Good luck in your search!

Summer – only 25 weeks away…

I know it seems silly to be talking about summer now – given that it’s winter, we’ve not finished for Christmas yet, and it’s cold here in Manchester.  However, summer isn’t really as far away as you think (it’s only about 25 weeks until the end of second semester!).  So while you may be thinking of a few weeks in the sun or spending some time relaxing after the end of the academic year, you may want to think again! 

 Given the current economic situation, gaining some work experience or having a job over summer may be a real benefit to you.  Not only financially but in terms of skills and experience to help you when you are applying for graduate jobs in the future.  The Careers Service is still being sent internships and summer vacation jobs, so don’t forget to look at the vacancies section of our website. 

 Quite a few of them have closing dates over the Christmas vacation and exam period, so you may want to spend some of your time in between watching the Doctor Who Christmas special and celebrating with family and friends to complete a few applications!   Others may have longer closing dates or may only be advertised after Christmas, so don’t worry if you don’t have time to start applications now…  as long as you start to think about it before summer actually begins.

Here are a few examples of vacancies available on our website at the moment which may interest you.  If  you don’t see anything you like here, check the website or start to think about what you’d like to do:

• Internship with UK publisher - The organisation are offering internships in a number of areas including web development, marketing and editing.  Closing date: 31st December 2008.
• Technology summer internship - The organisation are offering 10 week summer placements to students in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Maths or Physics.  Closing date: 31st December 2008.
• Manufacturing summer internship in UK - The organisation are looking for Electrical, Mechanical and Chemical Engineers.  Closing date: 1st January 2009.
• Summer internship with large financial organistion - The organisation are looking for students in their penultimate year.  Roles are offered in a number of different areas of the business. Closing date: 4th January 2009.

With the weeks counting down, I’m off to plan my summer holiday!  Enjoy your Christmas break!