Isn’t the range of placement offers overwhelming? Are you having a hard time deciding on a placement? But why is it so difficult to find an opportunity to gain practical experience? Do you feel overwhelmed or have no idea where to start? Below are my, 13 reasons why, which I have encountered when searching for a placement.
1. Too many offers! There is an excessive number of announcements for placements. Currently, Ratemyplacementoffers 471 internships over a period of 5-10 months. 455 offers of the 471 are for a work placement based only in the UK. Also, Indeed offers about 467 placements in the UK at the moment.
2. Lost overview! Since there are so many placement offers, you may lose the overview and neither can you decide. My tip is to trust your instincts, so apply to the job advertisements that first appealed to you.
3. Requirements! Mostly large companies expect more from their applicants. These requirements can be demotivating and often prevent you from applying at all.
4. Career options! Finding interest in a particular job is harder for some more than for others. There are countless career opportunities, for example, in the field of media studies. For this reason, it certainly isn’t terrible if you decide not to focus on a specific career at the beginning of your studies. If you are interested to see what you can do with your degree and how the exact job titles are named, then please visit Prospects.
5. Be unique! A further problem is, in order to be successful, you need to stand out from the crowd with your application. Remember, there are also other applicants who keep the competition alive.
6. CV style! If you are considering to design a creative CV to distinguish yourself from other applications, then be careful that your CV is not becoming too creative and therefore no longer appearing professional.
“Don’t let design disrupt communication.” -Rob Wallace (2012) in an interview with Forbes Magazine (Partner of Wallace Church)
Furthermore, if you are using colours on your CV then be careful with your selection, because colours have various meanings. I mainly use the colour blue for my applications. The colour blue implies professionalism and this is how I want to present myself.
7. Trust! Which placement advertisements can you trust to meet your expectations? Also, which media can you trust to find credible job offers?
8. Own assessment! It is important to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Personally, it is not easy for me to see or even admit my strengths. However, for your applications, it is extremely important to be self-confident and to be able to make clear statements about your strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, if you are applying for a vacancy online you will be asked in many cases even before there is an invitation to a job interview to describe a strength of yourself that can help to enrich the company, based on an example.
9. Save space! Another point that causes headaches is the right amount of information you are expected to have on your CV. Since the CV summaries your life, seek for powerful keywords that support your personality positively. Avoid unnecessary personal information on your CV, such as your year of birth. That is not a strength, steals valuable space and may reduce your chances of getting the position.
10. Duration! How long are you planning to do a placement? In my opinion, work placements that are scheduled only for a period of four weeks are not helpful in terms of not being able to gain intensive experience in such a short time. Furthermore, I think, you will gain more in-depth experience if the placement lasts longer than 5 months.
11. Be social! Thinking that a CV and cover letter is enough for applying to an established company, then you might want to re-think this decision. According to Jobvite 2016, then a majority of 87% of the recruiters use LinkedIn to evaluate their applicants. In addition, hiring managers do not only pay attention to LinkedIn for applicants they also have a look on your Facebook, Twitter, own blog, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat pages. Therefore, you should always be aware of what you post and which impacts it can have on your future career.
12. Note requirements! Keep your cover letter short and concise! However, it should not be less than 250 words, unless the company has specified a certain amount of words. The difficulty in writing a cover letter is to present yourself at your best with only 250 to 400 words (Indeed 2019).
13. How many applications?! In fact, for me, there is no certain number of how many positions you should apply for. According to Allaboutcareers 2019, the sooner you apply for a job, the greater is your chance to get a placement. Personally, I would apply for two to three placements a week.
In conclusion, applying for placements is challenging for many reasons. Nevertheless, this blog post should not be a discouragement from applying for placements. Rather, it should encourage you to be more considerative and treat the placement search as a challenge.
