My name is Annabel and I’m an English Language and Linguistics student. I’m currently undertaking a placement at UWE Bristol in the Careers and Enterprise (C&E) department. This involves working on the front desk, helping with events such as career fairs and open days, running social media accounts, working with external organisations, and more.
I’d been searching and applying for placements unsuccessfully for months before I found this opportunity, when a lecturer emailed it to me. My favourite and least favourite thing about my course can be summed up in one line, ‘this course can apply to any job’. The great thing about English is that you can use it anywhere, and for someone who didn’t want to be stuck on one path this was amazing. However, this also meant finding a placement was slightly more difficult as there are no specific ‘English’ placements. However, the careers team at UWE were really helpful and we found loads of opportunities that I could apply my degree to.
UWE has a list of where previous placement students from each course went. Many from my course went into speech therapy, journalism, or social media. But I had no interest in speech therapy and when applying to these placements I was up against students who had degrees in journalism and marketing. I didn’t know how to sell myself and prove that my degree was just as relevant for these jobs, which it was. In retrospect I’d advise anyone interviewing for these placements to have more confidence in their abilities.
This placement has given me a great opportunity to see just how my degree can be used to enhance my career prospects. I use my understanding of brand tone of voice every day on the C&E social media, I use my communication skills when talking to students, staff, and external organisations.
When I first sat down for my online interview I felt sick. I hate interviewing even though I know I’m quite good at it; maybe it’s the English degree but I can waffle a convincingly good answer to most questions. After my interview though I felt less confident than I usually do. This job was my last chance to get a placement, or I would have to go into my third year and couldn’t put off writing a dissertation any longer. But the interview apparently went well as I was called back later that same day and told I got the placement. I instantly told my dad whose response was, ‘Of course you did, but how much are they paying you?’
The great thing about having a placement with UWE is that they genuinely care about your development and making sure you’re getting as much out of your time here as possible. There have been so many learning opportunities available to me every day. From day one I was told about all the training and learning courses I would be able to do, including a development day in Cardiff whilst being paid! I’ve found myself working with different departments and learning from people with years of experience. This has allowed me to create a clearer idea of my future career plans.
I developed in areas I hadn’t even considered before. Running the C&E Instagram account became a very large part of my job and was one I didn’t realise I would enjoy so much. We managed to grow our followers by 15% in 4 months and have maintained good engagement across all posts. Becoming a social media manager is now something I am looking into as a career which I never would have considered before. This was also well-supported by my line manager who encouraged me to look for the skills that that job required and try to improve them whilst working here.
A few weeks into my job I was asked to make some objectives, things I wanted to work on and improve during my time here. I also needed to plan how I would achieve these and how I would evidence any improvement. The main thing I wanted to focus on was my confidence. Having no real experience in a professional working environment I was quite nervous coming into this role. My line manager helped me set my first goal, to speak up 3 times in meetings over that week. It’s hard to believe that just 3 months later I was running meetings of my own, where I was the ‘expert’.
The other thing I really loved about this placement was how it was set up. Three other placement students started at the same time as me, each of us with the same training to do and similar roles. It was comforting knowing that we all had people we could talk to and rely on, and we quickly became good friends both in and out of work.
Having been a student here for two years I felt confident that I would recognise the inner workings of the university quite well. I was very wrong. Not only did I end up working with a team I didn’t even know existed, the roles I was aware of were different from what I imagined. Every department was much more interconnected than I would have assumed and no one’s role could be summed up with just one title.
I now find myself most often working at the careers and enterprise front desk which I had been too awkward to approach for two years. And helping to organise events I can’t believe I never fully took advantage of as a student!
Overall, I would highly recommend a placement to anyone who is considering it. I knew a placement would look good on a CV, but I had no idea how much it would help me develop my character. This placement has given me a sense of confidence and competence that will help me not only for my 3rd year of uni but all future careers. It will be hard work but so rewarding, not just academically and professionally but personally as well.
UWELingo 