…..Dave Chapman from Bournemouth University following a review of his placement at GE Money Home Lending, congratulations Dave you are this weeks winner!

We caught up with Dave to find out a little bit more about our competition winner.

What will you spend your £50 Amazon vouchers on?

“Well, as I will be starting my final year of Uni in a month or so it will come in very handy for that Java book I’ll be needing!”

What are your careers plans for the future now that you are finishing your placement?

“Well, I can honestly say that my placement was life changing in regards to my career plan. After the experience I’ve been able to achieve, I now plan on moving forward as a junior Project Manager to hopefully further my knowledge of Project Management and progress into a full time Project Manager role.”

Top placement tip:

“I think my top tip for placement students is to really stretch yourself, and seek further opportunities to gain more experience and good exposure to the business. Your placement is what you make of it and it is a great chance to gain some invaluable experience so push yourself to get the most out of the great opportunity you’ve been given!”

Why did you decide to review your placement?

“I think that having a placement is a great chance to get some brilliant experience in a real world environment and part of what can make and shape your future is where you do that placement. I felt my placement was brilliant, and I think that anyone that can get the opportunity to be a part of GE will get some great training and experience, as well as meet some great people and learn a lot about a large corporate company environment.”

Well done for writing a great review Dave! Happy spending! To read the winning review, please click here.

Completing a placement or internship this summer? Fancy getting your hands on a £5 HMV E-Voucher?

…..James Berry from Liverpool John Moores University following a review of his placement at DHL Express, congratulations James you are this weeks winner!

We caught up with James to find out a little bit more about our competition winner.

What will you spend your £50 Amazon vouchers on?

“I will spend £50 of Amazon vouchers on purchasing some module textbooks for my Business Studies BA (hons) course, they will be a great head start and aid to my final year of study.”

What are your careers plans for the future now that you are finishing your placement?

“I have always had an interested in logistics, and after completing my placement year within DHL logistics and enjoying my experiences and opportunities, I have decided that I will be applying for the DHL post graduate scheme as soon as application stage is declared.”

Top placement tip:

“A top placement tip would be to continuously ask your employers for new opportunities, even in areas that maybe you thought you might not be able to be involved with. Show an interest in most things in the workplace, don’t go unnoticed!”

Why did you decide to review your placement?

“I decided to review my placement as it’s not always enough to apply for a placement basing it upon a company name or a brand image, we can all learn plenty from past experiences of others, and we should all voice our opinions.”

Well done for writing a great review James! Happy spending! To read the winning review, please click here.

Completing a placement or internship this summer? Fancy winning your own £50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate?

…..Chris Morford from Northumbria University following a review of his placement at Prospect Soft, congratulations Chris you are this weeks winner!

We caught up with Chris to find out a little bit more about our competition winner.

What will you spend your £50 Amazon vouchers on?

“I’d like to say I would buy something useful like some study material for next year, but to be honest, that’s probably not going to happen. It will be some sort of DVD series (maybe The Wire) and/or an Xbox game (probably the next edition of Pro Evolution Soccer). Who knows, the world of Amazon is my oyster!”

What are your careers plans for the future now that you are finishing your placement?

“I have always been told that I have the gift of the gab, so for the last 6 years I have always been involved in sales and this year was no different. However this year I was selling to businesses, opposed to my previous job where it was individual people in the retail sector. I have had a great placement at ProspectSoft. I was given a true experience of B2B sales and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I think my future must lie in sales of some sort and due to my performance this year, I have gained the perfect opportunity to land my graduate position in the sales department at ProspectSoft.”

Top placement tip:

“Work your arse off to impress! A lot of employers see undergraduate placement years as a year long job interview for post graduate work. So if you impress enough to be offered a job at the end of your year, it may help alleviate some of the pressure in your final year. Also, enjoy yourself and have a laugh, I did!”

Why did you decide to review your placement?

“I wanted to review my placement to let people know about ProspectSoft and the quality of the job they offer you. Students like me are always looking at massive companies for a placement, mainly so they have a “big name” on their CV at the end of it. However being at a slightly more compact company you get given so much more responsibility and can gain so much more from it. ProspectSoft have given me so much this year and I hope this review will enable other people to have the same opportunity that I have had. And also, if I didn’t review it I wouldn’t have won £50 so……”

Well done for writing a great review Chris! Happy spending! To read the winning review, please click here.

Completing a placement or internship this summer? Fancy winning your own £50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate?

…..Matthew Knight from Oxford University following a review of his internship at Pinsent Masons, congratulations Matthew you are this weeks winner!

We caught up with Matthew to find out a little bit more about our competition winner.

What will you spend your £50 Amazon vouchers on?

“I have no idea yet! Probably books or CDs.”

What are your careers plans for the future now that you are finishing your placement?

“After my final year, I’m going to take the GDL and LPC, and hopefully get a training contract at a top law firm.”

Top placement tip: “Don’t drink too much at any social events!”

Well done for writing a great review Matthew! Happy spending!

Completing a placement or internship this summer? Fancy winning your own £50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate?

…..Christopher Crowther from the University of the West of England, Bristol following a review of his placement at the Audit Commission, congratulations Christopher you are this weeks winner!

We caught up with Christopher to find out a little bit more about our competition winner.

What will you spend your £50 Amazon vouchers on?

“I haven’t really thought about it yet, I’m still surprised that I won! I will probably put it to good use though and obtain resource materials that will benefit the final year of my Mathematics degree.”

What are your careers plans for the future now that you are finishing your placement?

“My heart has always been set on becoming a Mathematics teacher at secondary school level. However, I am quite happy to keep my options open and this placement (at the Audit Commission) has been really beneficial to me and opened up my options to go into government research or another statistical based position.”

Top placement tip:

“Do not be afraid to communicate with other teams within your placement and get to know them better. More often than not, everyone tends to be very friendly and you will settle in better knowing you have familiar faces around you. They are often there to support you and make you feel welcome.”

Why did you decide to review your placement?

“I wanted to inform other students looking to go on placement of the wonderful opportunity I have had and how beneficial it has been ahead of my final year. I hope that people will take notice of placements such as those at the Audit Commission, who give you a vast range of knowledge as well as boost your confidence and prepare you excellently for working life.”

Well done for writing a great review Christopher! Happy spending! To read the winning review, please click here.

Completing a placement or internship this summer? Fancy winning your own £50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate?

…..Louisa Marshall from Liverpool John Moores University. Following a review of her placement at Perkins Engines, congratulations Louisa you are this weeks winner!

We caught up with Louisa to find out a little bit more about our competition winner.

What will you spend your £50 Amazon vouchers on?

“Unfortunately the £50 voucher will probably be spent on next year’s textbooks!”

What are your careers plans for the future now that you are finishing your placement?

“Career wise I am still quite unsure of what I what to do however I think it will be HR related.”

Top placement tip:

“My best advise during your placement is to take every opportunity to get involved in every project that is offered.”

Why did you decide to review your placement?

“I reviewed my placement because I thought that it would be useful for others to have an idea of what I got up to and it was also a good way to evaluate my experience.”

Well done for writing a great review Louisa! Happy spending! To read the winning review, please click here.

Completing a placement or internship this summer? Fancy winning your own £50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate?

…..Charlene Matthewman from Leeds Met University. Following a review of her placement at Carnegie Faculty of Sport and Education, congratulations Charlene you are this weeks winner!

We caught up with Charlene to find out a little bit more about our competition winner.

What will you spend your £50 Amazon vouchers on?

“I think that I will spend my £50 on something that I can use when I go on holiday abroad. Obviously I’ll need lots of sun cream!”

What are your careers plans for the future now that you are finishing your placement?

“In the future I would like to widen my experience by working in central communications in a large company. I’m also keeping my eye out for new projects in Leeds and would love to work for Leeds City Council to get involved in their marketing and events team.”

Top placement tip:

“My top tip would be to make sure that you get yourself involved with what is happening in the office. You can sometimes feel a little bit left out as your colleagues are getting on with their work. Make sure that you are heard; not by shouting!”

Why did you decide to review your placement?

“I reviewed my placement as I wanted to let other students know what they may be facing when starting their new placement role. Everyone’s experience is different and I hope that anyone that reads my review will help them in some way.”

Well done for writing a great review Charlene! Happy spending! To read the winning review, please click here.

Completing a placement or internship this summer? Fancy winning your own £50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate?

…..Ben Downes from Loughborough University. Following a review of his placement at BAE Systems, congratulations Ben you are this weeks winner!

We caught up with Ben to find out a little bit more about our competition winner.

What will you spend your £50 Amazon vouchers on?

“I will most likely be spending my voucher on a few books and a film or two.”

What are your careers plans for the future now that you are finishing your placement?

“In the future I am looking to work in biomedical engineering of some description. I am interested in doing this because i think it is facinating how the natural world can be shaped and augmented using engineering and artificial parts to improve peoples quality of life.”

Top placement tip:

“My top placement tip is to always ask the questions and raise any issues you have. In my experience the company has you there in order to try and impress you into returning to work with them. As a result they will strive to make you happy if it is within their capability to help you then they will.”

Why did you decide to review your placement?

“I reviewed the placement as I thought that the RateMyPlacement idea was a fantastic one and I wanted to let people know how much you can get out of a placement and that they are really worthwhile.”

Well done for writing a great review Ben! Happy spending! To read the winning review, please click here.

Completing a placement or internship this summer? Fancy winning your own £50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate?

…..Jessica Shaw from Oxford Brookes University. Following a review of her placement at Badenoch and Clark, congratulations Jessica you are this weeks winner!

We caught up with Jessica to find out a little bit more about our competition winner.

What will you spend your £50 Amazon vouchers on?

“I’ll probably be the sensible 4th year I should be and spend it on text books!”

What are your careers plans for the future now that you are finishing your placement?

“I haven’t quite figured this out yet but I know i want to work in a fast paced environment like recruitment and it doesn’t necessarily have to match my degree description.”

Top placement tip:

“Ask as many questions as possible, don’t leave your Uni work till last minute and keep in touch with your colleagues!”

Well done for writing a great review Jessica! Happy spending! To read the winning review, please click here.

Completing a placement or internship this summer? Fancy winning your own £50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate?

…..Nick Arding from the University of Bath. Following a review of his placement at Intel, congratulations Nick you are this weeks winner!

We caught up with Nick to find out a little bit more about our competition winner.

What will you spend your £50 Amazon vouchers on?

“£50!!!!! I will probably get some iPod speakers, if not then maybe use it to download music (legally from amazon)!!!”

What are your careers plans for the future now that you are finishing your placement?

“Haven’t put a huge amount of thought into it yet but would like to work abroad (somewhere hot) on something to do with engineering. Possible more in the way of power systems rather than electronics!”

Top placement tip:

“Get the most out of it!! Take up any training opportunities offered to you, attend as many conferences, meetings as you can. Make sure you’re kept busy, sometimes it’s easy to sit back and relax in the canteen without anyone noticing, but this won’t help your career.”

Why did you decide to review your placement?

“When I was applying for placements I went to great length to ensure I would both benefit and enjoy the job. I wasn’t aware of RateMyPlacement at the time and had I known about it, I would have found it very useful. Instead I set about emailing ex-students asking for their opinions.”

Well done for writing a great review Nick! Happy spending!

Completing a placement or internship this summer? Fancy winning your own £50 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate?