RateMyPlacement welcomes Sam and Amy, our two new placement students!

They have joined the team today to help us engage with students further and work on key projects throughout the year. In their first morning they have already come up with some great ideas, been taught about all things RateMyPlacement and enjoyed a lunch at Prezzo! Look out for their blog at the end of the week which will give you an insight into their placement year. They will also be regular Guest Bloggers so watch this space for more exciting updates!

Alana, our third placement student is set to join us on the 12th July so we hope they all rate their placement highly

Welcome to the team guys!

Fresh Look is a profile-raising event specifically designed to introduce first-year female students to the wide range of careers in investment banking. Through informative presentations, panel discussions and informal networking, the event offers the chance to learn from professionals working at some of the world’s top investment banks.

Fresh Look is open to first-year female students from all degree disciplines. It’s a unique opportunity to discover what it’s really like to work in the City – and to ask any questions you might have about one of the most demanding and rewarding careers around.

Click here to apply now!

So, it may be a busy time for us here at RateMyPlacement; planning for next years campaign, growing the team and developing the website to make it a whole lot easier for you all to use…but we are still only human AND, this means that World Cup fever has hit the office!

Manifesting itself through not the typical fever symptoms of a chill or severe sweating, but a change of pace with Spotify replaced by Live Match commentary, Vuvuzela’s and the parting of some (small time) cash with an office sweep stake.

The conditions of the draw; each person was drawn 4 team names and the prizes go to the person with the highest accumlative total points within their group, and of course the overall winner of the tournament.

10 days in, and Ali is leading the way with his collection of Ghana, Greece, New Zealand and Slovenia. Jo has lost one team with Cameroon not making it to the next round…and I can’t even remember what teams I was drawn,  great start

But, overall Lizzie is topping the table with her team Argentina doing the best, with Gareth a close second with the Netherlands!

Watch this space for the next update…

This is the latest advice from James Caan at the telegraph.co.uk when applying for a job or work experience in design or film making.

In order to make you stand out the from the rest of the crowd,  he believes taking a different approach, and offering the personal touch is key! So what does this mean in real terms…

Well, he suggests making a call or arranging a one-to-one meeting to pitch your application, avoiding (!!) sending CVs by email as they may only be deleted or put in a pile with many and making sure you have an up to date website to showcase and profile your work.

According to his article, finding a role within the creative industry is only half about talent – the rest is about having the right attitude, personality and maybe more importantly the confidence to put yourself out there and experience the unknown.

Which got me thinking, have any of our users used any unusual techniques to get noticed at a company? (Insert the joke here) which has resulted in gaining a great opportunity? AND, how transferable is this to other industries? Do we think the future of intern and placement applications for the Banking, Retail, Engineering and Law sectors (to name a few) involve creative ideas minus a CV??!

A recent article from the The Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) has called for an end to “unfair” unpaid work experience after seeing an increase in calls from distressed would-be lawyers worried that they are being exploited by law firms.

The article on Lawyer 2B explains how The JLD has ‘lambasted firms that make students desperate to land a training contract do what would be considered by most as fee-earning work for months on end without paying them a penny’.

Chair of the JLD Pro Bono Awards Committee Kevin Poulter said: “We hear stories about people who are working for weeks or months on end with little or no pay and only occasionally an oblique promise that one day there may be a training contract, paralegal position or some ‘time to count’ available. Other people have recounted suggestions of a ‘trial period’ to prove that they’re a suitable candidate or good fit with a firm.”

Poulter goes on to argue in the article that the trend toward making students work for free for long periods of time under the “guise of work experience” is ruling out those who cannot afford to take unpaid employment, creating an “elitist” profession.

We would like to hear your thoughts at RateMyPlacement as you will be the lawyers of the future !  Do you think we should end unpaid placements?

Click here to read more from the article at Lawyer 2B.

A recent story on Edinburgh TV reported a teenager who was on placement with The Royal Mail stole corporate passes worth £3,600 from a sorting office in Edinburgh.

“The accused had been taken on for a work placement by the Royal Mail and had impressed during the six-week placement and had been kept on.’

‘The client, Miller Group, initially thought the tickets had gone missing in its offices but Nagle was caught when some were traced after being used at games.’

The teenager pleaded guilty earlier this month. You can’t blame a man for trying but what a waste of work experience!!

Comment on the blog and let us know your thoughts

What is Slumpwise you may be asking??

Slumpwise is an online platform dedicated to showcasing the options available to young people looking for work. Whether you’re a student worried about the next step, a recent graduate struggling to find your feet on a career path, or a 20-something in a job you don’t like, new alternatives are constantly emerging. And with these alternatives, comes opportunity.

Sign up for the first online event: ‘Creative Solutions To Youth Under Employment,’ at www.slumpwise.co.uk from 2-4pm Saturday June 12^th. A panel of 18 experts has been assembled, carefully selected because of the innovative and enterprising approaches they have adopted to youth enterprise (expert panel list at www.opensocietyuk.wordpress.com). Some are innovative entrepreneurs, others have adopted a fresh approach to recruitment, and some have even developed new approaches to ‘work’ altogether. They will all be your answering questions online from 2-4pm at www.slumpwise.co.uk.

To ensure your question is answered in the allocated time, submit a question in advance to tom@open-society.co.uk with the name of the expert it’s directed at. Alternatively, leave the name off and the most suitable candidate to answer will be selected. Anyone can take part in the live online discussion by signing up at www.slumpwise.co.uk on Saturday 12th June, between 14:00-16:00 so submit those questions now!

Our very own in house expert in the form of Ali Lindsay will be joining the call tomorrow too !

For more information about Slumpwise click here

The voluntary sector in the UK is complex and dynamic, ever changing to meet the needs of society and growing at a significant rate as an employer and provider of services.

Working For a Charity is supported by The Guardian and has a wealth of information about working in the Charity sector.

Catherine Mortier from NCVO Working for a Charity explains that we need to improve the understanding of the voluntary sector and to encourage new people to contribute their skills as effectively as possible.

It’s an exciting and demanding environment and the individuals who work within it, whether paid and unpaid, know that they can have a real impact on the world and the lives of the people their organisations exist to help.

What is the voluntary sector?

As well as voluntary sector, you will also hear the terms not-for-profit, voluntary and community sector, third sector, NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and charities. Sometimes these terms refer to the same group of organisations and initiatives and sometimes they don’t. In addition there are an increasing number of organisations defining themselves as social enterprises and the wider context of civil society organisations broadens the definition even more.

The broadest definition of this sector includes not only charities registered with the Charity Commission but also small voluntary groups, housing associations, universities and colleges, schools and places of worship, trade unions and trade associations, sport and recreation clubs and NHS Trusts.

For the purposes of this introduction and to narrow your initial job search using this tool NCVO Working For A Charity uses the narrower definition of “general charities” which includes the well known national charities such as NSPCC and Shelter and the vast numbers of local charities serving their local communities.

General charities are defined by key criteria which are that they:

1. formally structure their people and activities;
2. are independent of government and business;
3. are non profit-distributing;
4. are truly self governing;
5. have a meaningful degree of voluntary activity or funding;
6. support the growth of a ‘civil society’ by providing a wider public benefit that goes beyond any membership*.

*(Source: The UK Civil Society Almanac 2009, NCVO.)

For more information click here

James Caan has mentioned in a recent article in The Telegraph that graduates will face one of the toughest times trying to land a job in their preferred field. Having said this, should we expect grads and students to work for free?!

As the Summer approaches, many of you will be contemplating what to do. Travel, work or generally relax after a hectic year at university?

James Caan states ‘The next few weeks will be crucial for students to make sure they stay one step ahead of the competition. It’s tempting to take the summer off and enjoy a well-earned break after all those exams and dissertations, but now is the time for students to organise work experience and internships to impress their future employer’.

To read more from the article click here

Here at RateMyPlacement, we offer summer internships and placements where you can gain that all important work experience BUT also be paid for it! Win, win situation…

Getting experience will definitely help with securing that dream graduate job…Let us know how you feel about working for free and comment on the blog

Good luck !

The results of this years Universum UK ‘ideal employer’ poll are in and according to Ri5 the results are as follows:

This year’s top ten ideal employers for Russell Group business students are: 1) PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2) Goldman Sachs; 3) KPMG; 4) Google; 5) Ernst & Young; 6) J.P. Morgan; 7) HSBC; 8 ) Deloitte; 9) BBC; 10) Apple. (This contrasts markedly with the top three national choices of Apple, Google and the BBC).

The top ten for Russell Group engineering and IT students are: 1) Google; 2) IBM; 3) Microsoft; 4) Apple; 5) Rolls-Royce; 6) Shell; 7) Intel; 8 ) BAE Systems; 9) BMW; 10) Ministry of Defence.

What do you think? Any surprises? Or just as you would expect?