After months of preparing and booking fairs up and down the country, we can now reveal our schedule for the RateMyPlacement Campus Tour 2010/2011!

The Marketing team have been busy updating our calendar and can reveal the Campus Tour starts in just over a month. We will be heading up north to the Edinburgh and Glasgow fresher fairs on the 14th September, then you can follow us around the country by checking our Calendar of Events. Make sure you come and say hello as we are all a very friendly bunch

Look forward to meeting you all on the road in a few weeks!

The RateMyPlacement Team

BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, provides some fantastic information relevant to the Industry. If you fancy a career in Web Design, read on!

Web design

“Web design is an interesting and rapidly changing field, assisted by the growth of Multimedia. Websites are not just a simple platform; they are highly artistic, engaging, the perfect presentation card for any institution, company or group.”

“Websites need to be designed to be compliant with standards and guidelines to ensure that they are quickly accessible through different platforms, such as PCs, Macs, mobiles, PDAs and digital television. Together with the technical specification, websites need to be fun, attractive, clear and right to the point. Accessibility is an important issue as websites need, by law, to be usable with those with vision problems and other disabilities.”

Team Work

“Web developers can work in isolation (as freelancers) or as part of a team. Web design is important in every organisation; it forms an essential part of their marketing. Some specialist companies are still very small.”

Pay and Prospects

“There are no set pay scales in computing. Starting salaries range from £14,000; the average graduate starts on £18,000. Pay can rise to £45,000 with experience and responsibility. Sometimes there is a shortage of specific software skills and salaries can rise according to supply and demand.”

For more information on the IT Industry, check out BCS here

Once upon a time, having a degree separated ‘the men from the boys’ but with more and more students graduating each year it seems perhaps a degree just isn’t enough? And for the poor graduates of 2010, this financial crisis we’re all caught up in is not helping; with fewer jobs than there are graduates… So, let’s get some advice on how future graduates can stand out from the crowd in the coming years…

Dan Hawes, GRB co-founder, observed, “Today’s graduates believe they face a classic Catch 22 situation. They worry that they don’t have sufficient work experience to land that all important first post but until they get into a job they can’t gain the experience. The message for future generations of graduates is to try and build up your work experience before you graduate through internships, part-time working and vacation work – not forgetting that voluntary work is also valuable experience.”

Anusha Everson, director for graduate employment at Hertfordshire agrees, “It’s clear that gaining real-life work experience as part of your course, or on your own initiative, is an absolutely key requirement for students getting ready to go to university this September.”

Robert Parkes, GRBs Marketing intern said “It is vital to pursue any work experience opportunities you get. Even if it is only for a week or so, work experience will tick a box on your CV and provide an interesting topic for interview conversation.”

So… there you have it, some words of wisdom each highlighting the growing importance of gaining work experience alongside your degree, whether it be an  insight, placement or internship. Get yours now and separate yourself from the thousands of other graduates who will be searching for your job!

Last week, we discussed a proposal from the CIPD, introducing the possibility of a ‘training wage’ for interns. On top of this, our blog yesterday mentioned the worrying factor that more and more students are being deterred from unpaid Internships – due to the costs involved.

Martin Shankleman, the Employment correspondent for BBC News, has highlighted a report that suggests “many young people working for free as interns are legally entitled to be paid.” These young people “could launch tribunal claims for back wages.”

“Think tank the IPPR and campaign group Internocracy argue private sector firms are “almost certainly” breaking the law by offering unpaid internships. The report says many volunteers could be legally defined as workers under national minimum wage legislation. It warns the current position leaves employers open to compensation claims.”

With all the current media regarding internships and whether they should be paid, it is likely that some changes will be made in the near future. There are arguments for both side of the story – but one thing is clear; Interns offer value to companies. Whether this value should be rewarded with pay, is the debate.

To see the rest of the article, click here.

A recent article in Ri5 reported that a new survey of 18,000 students by TARGETjobs revealed that undergraduates are put off by unpaid internships BUT are still keen to gain alternative forms of work experience.

As expected, unpaid internships are not popular as frankly, students need money to live!  The new survey suggested, however, that undergraduates are really keen to broaden their skills and experience – on their own terms.

‘No less than 82% of respondents regarded extracurricular activities (e.g. managing the finances of a student society, setting up social enterprises, etc.) as valid forms of ‘work experience’.  The prime benefits students hope to gain from work experience are building up skills on their CV (71%) and adding to their practical knowledge (60%).  In addition, more than three-quarters (76%) of respondents thought that traditional part-time paid student jobs should also be counted as ‘relevant experience’ by employers.’

TARGETjobs’ head of editorial Steve James says “Students underestimate just how impressive getting involved in student societies can look on their CVs.  The key isn’t just to join a group, but to shape some aspect of its work.  If you restructure a society’s finances or increase its membership through some innovative scheme, then you are acting on a scale that you might not be able to through many placements.  This shows that students are still keenly aware of the need to acquire the necessary skills to make them more employable without feeling compromised.’

Let us know what you think!

Read more from this article and other news at ri5.co.uk.