Nominations now open in the National Placement & Internships Awards 2012!

Wew are delighted to announce that nominations are now OPEN for the third National Placement & Internships Awards 2012, sponsored by PwC.

Due to be held on Wednesday 18^th January 2012 at City University in London, the Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of employers, universities and students within the world of undergraduate placements and internships.

There are 15 Awards up for grabs, including 7 Awards for employers, 3 for universities and 5 for students. Awards up for grabs include ‘Best Placement Student, Best Intern & Best Society’ with up to £1000 for the winners!

Entering is really quick and simple just visit the website at www.rmpawards.co.uk

And fill in a nomination form before the deadline of Friday 18^th November.

To find out more, click here.

Good luck!

As Halloween is approaching…(7 days to be exact, ooooh) I wanted to create a blog in relation to the theme!

I am going to give you some lessons and ideas from carving a pumpkin to what to do with your pumpkin after Halloween. Again let me know if you “like” these ideas and also feel free to put some photos up of your creations and experimentations..

1) The perfect pumpkin

With Halloween about a week away, it’s pumpkin picking time. A pumpkin display offers so many different choices: Tall, small, oval, and oblong. How do you know what to pick?

I would personally go for one that’s just more symmetrical and is a good bright, orange colour so you know it will last. Smaller ones are best for using for using for cooking etc after as they will taste sweeter. Sugar pumpkins are usually 200-250mm in diameter.

Above is a picture of a ‘good looking’ pumpkin. One that I wouldn’t mind putting on my door step!

Make sure you handle it carefully on the way home. Don’t slam it down on the table or let it roll around in the trunk. Any bruises will shorten the pumpkin’s lifespan.

Happy pumpkin picking!

2) Carving your pumpkin

I took this article form the BBC http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/features/pumpkin_carve/1/ so you can follow their four easy steps to carve your very own jack-o’-lantern pumpkin for Halloween!

1. Choose a large pumpkin and use a sharp serrated knife to cut off the crown

2. Using a large serving spoon, scoop out the seeds and fibres and discard. Then remove some of the flesh

3. With a marker pen, draw a simple outline of a face on the pumpkin. Use a small serrated knife to cut out the eyes, nose and mouth. Always cut away from you in case the knife slips

4. Pop a tea light inside the pumpkin, light it and replace the crown

3) Pumpkin pie

Follow this link to make a yummy pumpkin pie http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pumpkinpie_70659

4) Pumpkin soup

Follow this link to make warm hearted pumpkin soup http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7730/pumpkin-soup

5) Pumpkin cocktails

Here are two cocktail recipes to celebrate Halloween with!!

Pumpkin Martini

Impress your friends with this cocktail with a kick,

Ingredients

½ oz cream Liqueur, 2 oz vanilla vodka, ½ oz pureed/blended pumpkin, 1 tsp whipped cream

Preparation:

Mix liqueur and vodka with ice, Blend pumpkin to create a pumpkin puree, Add the puree to the liqueur and vodka mix – Shake well, Pour into a cocktail glass, topping it with a tsp of whipped cream and serve!

Vodka Pumpkin punch

Ingredients

1 ½ glass of vodka, 1 ½ glass of rum, ½ glass of vanilla liqueur, 1 tablespoon of pureed pumpkin, 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of maple syrup

Preparation

Mix well together and serve!

(P.S Please drink responsibly )

Let me know if you come up with any other ideas of how to make the most out of your pumpkin and thoughts on the above!

I for one cannot wait for Halloween and am very excited to get ready to dress up this weekend! What is everyone else up too?? Let us know!

Happy Halloween!

Charlotte

So much happens in a week that quite I have quite literally had to go through a blog breakdown to pick a selection from the many ideas that I had for my second blog. I quite enjoyed sharing what my week had been like in my first blog and it seemed to get a fairly good response; I’m going to stick with sharing weekly anecdotes with you, but I want this to be as interactive as possible – why not tell me about your week too? I’ve also come across a couple of other really good blogs worth sharing. Enjoy!

This week I learnt….

……….how to really appreciate boobs

Nearly all of us have loved or known someone suffering at the cruel hands of cancer. Cancer isn’t picky or prejudice, doesn’t care who you are, how good you are or how old you are. Whilst I and many people I know owe a lot to charities and networks like Macmillan and TCT, I also love finding out about smaller organisations, groups and even individuals all showing their support.

Beauty and the Boob is a bit like a good bra; supporting boobs the world over. It is a fantastic blog that I came across this week; witty, well written, intelligent and inspiring – I can do no better than to quote straight from it…

“Beauty and the Boob celebrates the female breast in all glorious shapes and sizes, bringing you the best and bang-on in boob-related fashion, beauty, news, health, gossip, features and events. Working in the Plastic Fantastic industry highlighted to me the immense role boobs play in the lives of women everywhere, and the even greater need to chat and refer. Written by a lady, for the ladies, be they Natural Nancys, Silicone Sallys or Reconstructive Ritas – this blog leaves no boob ‘untouched’.”

……….French (well, ‘un petit peu’)

For those of you that don’t know, back when I was languishing in the extended holiday periods you are accustomed to as a student, I spent two months living in France in a small little village called Mayregne in the Pyrenees.

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Since then my spoken French has fallen somewhat by the way side, but in an attempt to appear cultured and less of an ignorant monolingualist, I have decided to pick it back up and have a bit of a re-fresh. Here are some handy phrases that you may just need and remember when you least expect it;

Je voudrais une biere s’il vous plait.

I would like one beer please.

Je suis extremement occupee a ecrire mon blog.

I am extremely busy writing my blog.

Ah, une chaine d’ail….juste ce que je cherchais!

Ah, a string of garlic….just what I was looking for!

Avez-vous entendu parler de l’OCP? Ils sont etonnants.

Have you heard of OCP? They are amazing.

One of my favourite things about the French is their approach to food, and I assume it is this that recently got me the nickname ‘amuse-bouche’. As we have become a generation of techno-dependents I thought it only appropriate to utilise Wikipedia in my explanation of this exquisite, fine-French finger food;

An amuse-bouche [amyzbuʃ] is a single, bite-sized hors d’œuvre.[1] Amuse-bouches are different from appetizers in that they are not ordered from a menu but, when served, are done so according to the chef’s selection alone. These, often accompanied by a complementing wine, are served as a little tingler for the taste buds both to prepare the guest for the meal and to offer a glimpse into the chef’s approach to cooking.

The term is French, literally translated to “mouth amuser”.

The Amuse Bouche Champagne Bar in Soho is definitely one to visit when you’re next in London.

……….What the Dog Saw

Having last week reached my peak in learning how to smuggle cocaine, this week I started reading ‘What the Dog Saw’ by Malcolm Gladwell. Malcolm was a staff writer at the New Yorker and is the author of some fantastic books such as The Tipping Point; How Little things make a Big difference (2000), Blink; the power of thinking without thinking (2005) and Outliers: The Story of Success (2008).

Just a few pages in, I can’t give you a full review but I am already captivated by Gladwell’s provocative storytelling and illuminating anecdotes of the ordinary (The Ketchup Conundrum) and the extraordinary (The Talent Myth). I can however reiterate the review given by one of our very own clients; “Witty, probing…uniformly delightful…a comic’s feel for timing and a bent for counterintuitive thinking” (Bloomberg).

One early quote I’ll be sure to remember is “…it is impossible to separate Product Development from Marketing – the two are indistinguishable: the object that sells best, is the one that sells itself…”

……….fairytales do come true

Picture this.

You’re in holiday mode; the sun is setting, there’s a sweaty sheen forming across your reddened brow and you’re making your way into a tourist-ridden bar where drunken holiday makers ride a giant mechanical whale .

Believe it or not, this is what fairytales are made of.

I know this because of what happened to two of my best friends last Summer – and last weekend I helped them celebrate their wedding for the second time this year. Yes, the second time. The first time we celebrated their wedding in Phoenix, Arizona. The story is best told by the leading lady and you can check out her blog here…but here are the key facts to whet your fairytale appetite;

1. 42 weeks from the day they met (10th July 2010) to the day they married (30th April 2011).

2. Of which, they spent 35 days in each others company pre-marriage (including meeting, trips back and forth and the week before the wedding).

3. 5266 miles moved (according to Google Maps) from Phoenix to London to spend the rest of their lives together. …and here’s a photo of us all celebrating Phoenix-style post-wedding;

Amber’s advice of the week….

Show your support.

Tickle your taste buds.

Think outside the box.

Believe in fairytales.

Morning, I hope the weekend has been kind and fair to you all but alas, we are back at work, time to knuckle down and deal with the matter and deal with it proper!

Its been a quiet couple of weeks in Russell’s world (outside of work), Ive had one main focus (not work related) over the past couple of months and that has been the refurbishment and modification of a 30 year old foldaway bike to shuttle me from Fenchurch St. to RMP HQ in Vauxhall. I was using the Raleigh Twenty (so called due to it having 20inch wheels) to get to work a couple of months back but it gave up on me, the tyres ruptured and blew up!! luckily I wasn’t to far from the station to walk it in, I then realised it was time the Twenty had an overhaul. So thats what Ive been up to some evenings when I’ve had the time and money. From its obtainment to this point I have been using my personal blog for any updates related to the bike so check that out if your interested, it gives you an idea of parts gathered for the machine and how I originally brought it for £21.01…

Other than the health benefits of cycling everyday I am also keen to dodge, at any available opportunity, standing in confined spaces with strangers on the tube, catching their colds, negotiating standing space and having the privilege to pay for this pleasure, so in effect im saving £80 a month by cycling and not using the tube… CASHBACK!! Before it gets too cold to film, il slap a camera to my handle bars and record a short video on the way into work for you to check out my route, so keep your eyes peeled.

Since starting at RMP, I havent taken full advantage of the attractions London has to offer after work, I am generally a casual museum goer and feel this needs to be revived, so once a fortnight im going to make it my objective to gain some culture, ideally, if this is something I can help influence my work the better, if not I shall merely drink from the fountain of knowledge and report back with my findings. So this week I will be going back to my Design roots and visting The Power of Making at the V&A. If you find making and craftsmanship intersting check out the video here and il let you know how the exhibition was in my next post. As im intending to goto 1 exhibition a fortnight, Il review each of them and post them up here incase it tickles your fancy.

Just before I sign off, I thought I’d share with you all how I kill an hour train journey and another 1 hour out of London everyday. I tend to assault the good ol’ fashioned paper back but have decided to down arms for a while and attack a truly great saga… The Sopranos. I got the whole shabang from eBay for £30 would you believe it?!?! So that’s what il be tackling for… several series on my iPhone as I’ve never got past season 1 before now.

As to not shun the wonderful book, I’ve mentioned the last five books I read below, let me know what you thought of them by commenting bunderneath, my pick of the lot.. ‘Degrees of Freedom’, if you like sci-fi read this trilogy, its awesome.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - the book Blade Runner was based on.. funnier than the movie

Lord of the Flies - exciting and fun at first, until children start killing one another

1984  - cheer up

Peace and War – an interstellar war where one tour of duty is 200+ Earth years

Degrees of Freedom – Final in a trilogy set in a post apocalyptic London (Metrozone) where the future is determined by a Russian Physicist and ex-kidnapper

Stay lucky people, dont forget to Like this post thank you please. Rus

So this is my first blog in our now ongoing series of blogs from the RMP Team!

I’m Chris (aka Wicko), one of the co-founders of this website and business alongside Ollie (the tall one) and Ali (the er, not so tall one.)

I hope you’ve been enjoying the blogs from the team so far, they make great reading and hopefully give you an insight into life in RMP and the characters we have here!

Over the next few months, I’m going to blog about the highs and lows of running a start-up, (not-so-)young business.

To get started, a little bit of background. Myself, Ali and Ollie are the first to admit we’re not your average wannabe ‘entrepreneurs’. If you’d have asked us when we were poor students back in 2003 what we were going to do with ourselves after Uni, we’d have probably all said “travelling, move to London, get a graduate job and go from there…”

So how did we end up here, 8 years (wow, that is scary) later, sat in our very own office in central London, looking out over the Thames, with a rapidly growing team and business? Good question.

Thinking about it, I reckon there are 6 key factors:

1. Three co-founders - Having 3 co-founders has many benefits. We’ve always got each other to bounce ideas off and share responsibility, discuss plans, there is always a decision made (2 v 1) and it helps that the 3 of us are great mates too. I’d always advise people thinking of setting up a business to do it with one or two mates.
2. Spotting a gap in the market  - We didn’t spot a gap first and then go about filling it, it was more a case of setting up RateMyPlacement and then quickly realising that this gap in the market around undergraduates and work experience then exploiting it!
3. Right place, right time - Placements, internships and student employability has become such a hot topic in the university/graduate recruitment world and we are in a great place to facilitate this shift in mindset towards earlier engagement.
4. Hard work and long hours - Since setting up RMP way back in 2007, it’s fair to say the three of us have racked up thousands of hours working on the business. We try and be first in to work every day and last to leave, a good mindset to have. The late nights, early mornings, and miles across the UK that we put in are certainly paying off now as the business continues to grow.
5. Evolving all the time - Another key aspect in our growth has been our ability to be flexible and evolve depending on clients’ needs and there is no better example of this is On-Campus Promotions, the latest arm of the business.
6. Working with great people - We’ve been fortunate to work with some great people during the past few years. Our first three placement students – Alana, Amy and Sam – made incredible impacts and contribution to the business during their time with us and our current crop are following in their large footsteps. Our superb recruitment and selection policy (!) seems to be working well – surrounding ourselves with great people has certainly been a major factor in the success of the business to date.

And maybe a seventh, having a lot of fun along the way – that is also a key philosophy of the business! (In fact, in a future blog, I will share with some of the ‘safe-for-work’ stories that have arisen out of RMP over the past few years.)

So that’s enough to get me started – next time I’ll blog about what it takes to get a business started and off the ground (and it’s not as difficult as you might think!). It’s now 5.45pm on a Friday evening, everyone else has gone to the pub and I’m still sat here blogging (alongside our trusty Design Guru Rus, I should add) so on that note, I’m shutting down for the weekend!

Cheers for reading – don’t forget to ‘Like’ this post!

National Work Placement Exhibition 27 October 2011 – NEC, Birmingham – FREE ENTRY

Are you looking to fill a year in industry? Do you want to gain some much needed work experience to boost your career search? Are you planning a gap year and want to make it count?

Then come to the National Work Placement Exhibition on the 27 November at the NEC, where you can find answers to these questions and many more. The exhibition is an ideal forum to meet with top recruiters who are all hiring for work placements and find the experience to kick-start your career search!

Meet with top employers such as BAE Systems, Bunac, Cummins, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Exxon Mobil, Lidl, Mars, Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines, Walkers Snack Foods and many more!

PLUS, to give you that added advantage when applying for placements, don’t miss out on our CV clinic and FREE career and company presentations.

See www.work-placement.co.uk for more details.

As a blog virgin you will have to excuse the haphazard nature of this, my first of many blogs. One thing I love about working at On-Campus Promotions is the variety of tasks I get to be a part of. As a budding writer and poet I get a real kick out of getting involved with things like this, writing my bio for the website (Off Campus Team Bio’s) and writing for the latest OCP newsletter (The OCP Newbie). Admittedly, writing for a whole different audience and in a whole different medium is something completely new to me, so let me know what you think – comment, like, email, tweet about it – whichever way you want to give it, your feedback is much appreciated!

This week I learnt….

……….how to smuggle cocaine

(if you were born in the 60s, are a total gangster and have an array of Colombian ‘connections’)

So clearly I meet none of these criteria, but I have just finished reading ‘Snow Blind; a brief career in the cocaine trade’ by Robert Sabbag. Written in 1976 about a guy named Zachary Swan this non-fiction book was an eye-opening education that takes you through the trials and tribulations of this underhand and dangerous career path. Pardon the pun, but it was an addictive read.

They say regular readers are all escapists, day dreamers and ideologists – but for me this was more about getting an insight into something that is totally alien to me…..rest assured I won’t be making any career moves any time soon!

If you are interested, you can buy it from Amazon without breaking the bank or having to concoct a ‘scam’ of your own (yes, I have taken on the lingo). That said, the first off the marks to call it, I am more than happy to lend my own copy to – just like and leave a comment here on my blog.

……….that the circumference of Regents Park is 4.4275km (2.75 miles)

As a potential venue for our upcoming OCP event, this week my travels took me to Regents College. Amidst the idyllic Regents Park backdrop, I found my mind wandering to all the fantastic outdoor activities that London has to offer. Here are some of my top recommendations for experiencing the great outdoors city-style;

1. Somerset House Ice Rink – so it’s not quite Green, but any outdoor Christmas event aligned with Tiffany is a MUST in my book! Any old romantics out there keen on ice skating and getting into the Christmas spirit?

2. Vauxhall City Farm – as a newbie to Vauxhall since joining On-Campus Promotions, I was convinced that the team were having me on when in my first week they told me there was a city farm right around the corner from our office…..but low and behold there is! I am not sure why you would want to keep an eye on MI5 while learning to ride but it’s something few people can say they have done.

3. Aqua – the perfect rooftop drinking experience in central London. That’s all you need to know. Go there.

Somerset House Skate School Video

……….just how awesome Bombay Bicycle Club are

Originally named The Canals, this London based band renamed themselves after a chain of Indian Restaurants…..and that in my books is awesome. They made my entire Summer last year unforgettable and the latest album, ‘A Different Kind of Fix’, was released in August and has already reached the ‘Most Played’ Playlist on my iPhone. Whilst they keep playing to sell-out crowds at Brixton Academy, I am determined to see them live as soon as I can beat the crowds and get myself a ticket! Any early hints on their next gigs are very welcome!

Bombay Bicycle Club are awesome. Fact.

……….how much I miss being a student

Freebies, lie-ins and drinking mid-week are just a few of the things that you take for granted when you are student. In the office, at least one of us has tried each of these this week (no mention of who turned up late to our Monday morning meeting) – and trust me, it is not something that you can practice post university! Here are some resources that will help you make the most of being a student while you can!

 Freebies

 Best Drinking Games

 TV programmes you can watch without using iPlayer

 TV you can (almost legitimately) get away with watching

……….it is possible to love someone you barely know

On a more personal note, I have just become an aunt! What better way to welcome Olivia to the world than with a mention in our blog? You will have to excuse me this one (and I appreciate that I am totally biased) but please see below for an adorably cute photo of her.

Amber’s advice of the week….

Love people who are worth loving.

Always try new things.

Listen to Bombay Bicycle Club often.

Don’t smuggle cocaine.

Hello all!

As you can probably tell by now, RMP has jumped on the blogging bandwagon and every other Thursday you will be hearing from myself, I’m one of four placement students here trying their best not to mess up all the hard work that has been put into the company thus far.

Now I could bore you with stories from my life in London, but instead I have decided to bring you some regular features that will hopefully bring a cheeky smile to your face.

Firstly, I will bring you “YouTube video of the week”. My first one, some of you may have seen as it has racked up over 3.5 million hits and it sort of tells you a lot about myself as a person and my sense of humour. (Volume needed)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK_CKtYCRIc

I think what we have learnt here is: Kitten + Tortoise + Chamillionaire = YouTube Hit! I’d like to thank my friend Daniel for introducing this to me and hopefully you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. I’d also love to hear from you guys about your favourite YT vids, so either post them in a comment below or send them over to tom.wilson@ratemyplacement.co.uk and I’ll pick my favourites to blog about.

So next up we have my “Purchase of the Week” feature. Here I will discuss, yes you guessed it, my top purchase from that week and being somewhat of an impulse buyer I’m sure we will see some amusing items. This week my award goes to my Thomas the Tank Engine Toothbrush. I recently visited friends in Sheffield for a 21st and stupidly forgot my toothbrush, so took a trip into Poundland and found this little beauty. After making several appearances over the weekend my friends gave me a challenge to get photo’s of Thomas at various landmarks I visit across the globe and you can see the first one here when he visited Edinburgh Castle.

Features from this item include: Teeth cleaning, suction pad at base that allows it to be stuck to (almost) all surfaces and best of all, if your name is Thomas, it has your name on it!

Next I bring you the “LAD of the Week” feature. Here I will discuss who in the week has really stepped up to the plate and earned the prestigious nod of approval from men across the country.

This week it goes to a guy who literally changed the way we look at the world and certainly how we interact with each other. I am of course giving this week’s award to the late Steve Jobs. After a long battle with cancer, Jobs unfortunately passed away last week leaving the technological world in mourning. Not only did he create technology like their were pieces of art but gave us the opportunity to do things such as play Football Manager on the go, get football score updates by the minute and check out the latest Sweedish page 3 girl on the train without looking like a complete pervert.

A few notable tributes include one from Barack Obama: “Steve was among the greatest of innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.

“The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.” 

And on that note I award Steve Jobs the LAD of the Week award. We salute you sir, RIP.

On that note I would like to give you a huge thanks for reading, especially if you made it to this point. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks and feel free to leave comments or questions/tweet the blog to friends/repost on your wall, it’s all appreciated.

Adéu, Kwa herini, Auf Wiedersehen and Goodbye!

Tom

Hi RMP Followers!

Welcome to my first (of many) blogs. I’m Jamie and one of the 4 Placement students at RMP!

Freshers fair’s have kicked off over the last few weeks. The focus has been spreading the good news of RMP to students and getting them to sign up to our website! Being a student in Belfast, this has basically been a crash tour of England for me. George Clooney from ‘Up in the Air’ flashes to mind – my wheelie suitcase permanently attached to my hand! I’m practically a pro at public transport now – well..so I thought, up until last night when I jumped on not one but TWO wrong trains getting home!

This month – where have I been?

Liverpool

Nottingham

Warwick

Oxford

Where am I going in the next 2 weeks?

Kent

Durham

Oxford Brookes

Bournemouth

Cool fact I’ve learnt on my travels:

Harry Potter’s great dining hall is actually a dining hall in Oxford Uni – in Christ Church College. It’s still used for meals by students! I tried to sneak in and explore – but the Porter wouldn’t let me!

When I’m not travelling around England…

Being a new resident in London (i.e. total tourist) I’ve been spending my weekends checking off my ‘To Do’ list in London! This weekend I was celeb spotting…..in Madame Tussauds, and hired a rowing boat in Regents Park boating lake. I also took a trip to the Camden Market!

I need more ideas of things to do/see in London – all ideas are welcomed! Maybe I’ll even blog about it next time…

Stay tuned.

Hellooooooooooo everyone…. I’m Ed and the newest member of the RateMyPlacement force! I’m doing all the sales stuff so I’ll be making sure all you wana be placement and internship students know all the available options out there!!

So I have ventured down to the big smoke from Buuuuurmingham and have been here nearly 3 weeks. It’s been a hectic few weeks; new job, new house, new flatmates, and now I need a new phone!!!  Coming from near Birmingham, a taxi ride is never too far or too expensive however down here is another story…. I hear you have to use buses?? So I ventured into unknown territory on N155 night bus at 3am from Leicester Square. Anyway to get to the point I fell asleep, was awoken by 3 randomer’s screaming in my face, 10 stops past my stop and annoyingly….. without my phone!!!!!

So to all the RateMyPlacement fans…. has anyone seen my phone????? or does anyone want to sell me one?????

Muchas Gracias,

Ed