Months of planning, have now been kicked into action and RMP are officially on the Campus tour for 09/10. We will be updating this blog with all the latest tales from our travels over the coming months, so make sure you check back soon!

A had a very smooth journey up to Coventry with Chris Moyles entertaining me. On arrival I parked up and headed over to the venue. The fair was held in the Panorama Room, the set up was brilliant, and there were hundreds of balloons surrounding the building and loads of people milling about handing out flyers to students. It really put me in the mood to have a good day!

I sat through a short briefing with the organisers and went to set up my stand. I was then presented with a Christmas gift bag and inside to my surprise was a bottle of red wine and some sweeties, how lovely!

There was a fairly slow start to the day but things started to pick up around lunch time. I was joined by a RateMyPlacement student rep called Mahdi, who is a student at Warwick. We had a great day chatting to students. I was very impressed by the students of Warwick, they were a particularly friendly and happy bunch!

Thank you Warwick for having us – a lovely way to end the ‘fair season’!

Overall Ratings

• Food: 6/10. Bangers and Mash – Yum!
• Freebies: 10/10. Amazing, I got a bottle of red wine, big bag of jelly babies and some mints!
• Weather: 4/10. A little dark
• Beer: 9/10. I didn’t have any but I was compensated with a bottle of red which I much prefer anyway!
• Grounds: 8/10. Fantastic grounds
• Greenery: 6/10. Yes, Quite Nice.
• Toilets: 6/10. Clean but basicli>
• Fancy Dress Costumes: 0/10.
• Campus hotties: 6/10.

Warwick Total Score: 55/90

Many of you will have seen or even taken part in the recent Kit Kat Challenge that we’ve been running on campuses around the country, in conjunction with Nestle.

Our friends at Career Player recently followed us to the Loughborough Careers Fair to record the event…

To find out more about the Kit Kat Challenge, please click here.

Careerplayer.com – A site dedicated to helping you find your perfect graduate job. If you’re trying to figure out what to do and where to do it, help is at hand. Kiss goodbye to trawling through pages of job profiles, sit back and get the scoop from an industry insider.

Months of planning, have now been kicked into action and RMP are officially on the Campus tour for 09/10. We will be updating this blog with all the latest tales from our travels over the coming months, so make sure you check back soon!

A 5.30am start to the day for me – lovely!!! I put on my warmest hoody and two coats and bundled myself into the car and set off towards Nottingham Trent University. It was a fairly smooth journey and a very familiar one too, having spent 3 years as a student at Loughborough.

I arrived at the placement & internship fair and was greeted by a RateMyPlacement student rep called Tracy. We set up and were ready to chat to the first trickle of students who came into the fair at 10am in the nick of time.

It was definitely a very worthwhile day as many of the students I spoke to have to do either an internship or a placement as a compulsory part of their course and so students were very keen to chat and learn about how RateMyPlacement could help them.

I had a really good day meeting students, course leaders and employers, so thank you Nottingham Trent for having us!

Overall Ratings

• Food: 6/10. Nice baguettes.
• Freebies: 0/10. I didn’t get any although there was free beer being handed out from a near by stand!
• Weather: 1/10. Very windy and rainy.
• Beer: 7/10. Although I didn’t have any the fact there was free beer being handed out I feel the category deserves a strong ‘7’!
• Grounds: 5/10. Good but not on campus.
• Greenery: 2/10. Notts City Centre.
• Toilets: 4/10. Clean but quite ugly.
• Fancy Dress Costumes: 0/10.
• Campus hotties: 6.5/10.

Notts Trent Total Score: 31.5/90

Months of planning, have now been kicked into action and RMP are officially on the Campus tour for 09/10. We will be updating this blog with all the latest tales from our travels over the coming months, so make sure you check back soon!

Well, Essex to Cardiff is a bit of a trek but I got there in the end! When I arrived I thought I must have been way too early as there wasn’t much going on, but unfortunately this was just a sign of things to come.

I met a nice RateMyPlacement rep called Matt who is a student at Cardiff who helped me out and kept me company all day. I think that the lack of attendance on the students’ behalf was unfortunately down to them just not knowing about the event rather than them just not being interested. Also there were hardly any companies there and so any students that did attend didn’t stay very long. Having said this, the students that we did get a chance to speak to were very keen to register with RateMyPlacement and I think we managed to get just short of 70 sign ups – so not too bad considering!

Even though there was a poor turnout, we did have a nice day. We had a laugh with the Sainsbury’s representatives and we were given lots of lovely food to eat!

Overall Ratings

• Food: 6/10. Good buffet.
• Freebies: 4/10. Sainsburys gave me a £10 Shopping voucher, a pen, some mints and one of those little trolly token things!
• Weather: 4/10. Bit rainy.
• Beer: 0/10. Didn’t have any!
• Grounds: 3/10. Hmm I couldn’t really work it out as it wasn’t a campus uni, but the student uni wasn’t as impressive as some.
• Greenery: 5/10.
• Toilets: 5/10. Perfectly adequate.
• Fancy Dress Costumes: 0/10.

Cardiff Total Score: 27/80

Months of planning, have now been kicked into action and RMP are officially on the Campus tour for 09/10. We will be updating this blog with all the latest tales from our travels over the coming months, so make sure you check back soon!

After using every method of ground transportation you could possibly imagine I arrived at Aston University Aiesec fair. I was warmly welcomed by friendly staff on arrival, which was lovely. I quickly set up the stand and went off in search of a nice cup of hot tea and some sweeties!

Not long after the fair began I was joined by Emily, an RMP student rep who is a student at Aston. She was great company and a very good help. We chatted to loads of students many of whom were very interested to hear about how RateMyPlacement could help them. Lots of the students had already been to the NEC placement fair and had already registered with the website; so I thought it was pretty cool that they still wanted to hear more!

Overall Ratings

• Food: 6/10. Pleasant buffet.
• Freebies: 0/10. No freebies
• Weather: 4/10. Light Showers!
• Beer: 5/10. We didn’t have any BUT there was hot chocolate being served made from real melted chocolate!
• Grounds: 5/10. Sorry Aston students but fairly average.
• Greenery: 2/10.
• Toilets: 6/10. No Complaints.
• Fancy Dress Costumes: 0/10.

Aston AIESEC Total Score: 28/80

Months of planning, have now been kicked into action and RMP are officially on the Campus tour for 09/10. We will be updating this blog with all the latest tales from our travels over the coming months, so make sure you check back soon!

Well it was the turn of the girls to represent RateMyPlacement on campus at the Leicestershire Fair yesterday at the lovely Walkers Stadium. Now the surroundings may have been somewhat wasted on myself and Charlotte, as neither of us are particularly well informed when it comes to football, but the stadium was lovely and a great location for the event.

It was well organised and a number of employers and students were in attendance. Plus the buffet gets a big thumbs up from us! All in all a good day. A particular mention goes to the guys on the Royal Navy stand whom to mark Armistice Day were in full uniform..suited and booted! A great mark of respect!

On a different note Sainsbury’s brought Christmas to the fair with a cute little Christmas Tree on their stand. A great prompt that Christmas Eve is only 6 weeks away… as you can see i am no scrooge! I love Christmas!

Overall Ratings

• Food: 8/10: Good buffet; comprising bhajis, samosas and chicken satay kebabs. Yummy.
• Freebies: 3/10. Plenty of employers, but not many blog worthy freebies. Although on his swing by to the event Ollie did pick up some plastic fruit from somewhere…
• Weather: 7/10. Fairly good!
• Beer 2/10. After having a bit of a nightmare after i left the event i certainly needed a drink, but settled on a Burger King and Coke instead!
• Grounds: 10/10. Ding Ding Jackpot!! Great!
• Greenery 4/10. Not much as it was held at a football stadium.
• Toilets: 9/10. Nice.
• FANCY DRESS 8/10. FINALLY…somebody dressed up in Fancy Dress!

Leicestershire Total Score: 51/80

Manchester and Salford bound next week…

Months of planning, have now been kicked into action and RMP are officially on the Campus tour for 09/10. We will be updating this blog with all the latest tales from our travels over the coming months, so make sure you check back soon!

The prospect of a 3 hour train journey to Newcastle wasn’t the most appealing, but in the comfort of East Coast Trains I was able to spend more time in the office (i.e Online) than i have been used to over the past few weeks. Once i arrived in Newcastle, i jumped staight into a taxi to the uni and was quickly ready for the I.T fair!

It was a departmental fair so the number of employers was small and as it was reading week attendance was quite low. I did get chance to meet a number of univeristy contacts and chat to some employers though whilst our rep Leanne held down the fort (so to speak).

Manchester bound I jumped on the Metro back to Central Station…

Overall Ratings

• Food: 6/10: Sandwich buffet, and refreshments provided throughout the fair.
• Freebies: 3/10. Due to the number and type of employers in attendance freebies were a little thin on the ground. The NHS were giving away branded smoothies which were good.
• Weather: 7/10. Dry thank god!
• Beer 2/10. Again a quick two hour visit in the middle of the day so no time for beer im afraid. Although a few glasses of wine in the evening equates to a score of 2.
• Grounds: 7/10. Nice campus, i hadn’t been before so it was good to have a quick look around.
• Greenery 4/10. Not much that I saw.
• Toilets: 6/10. Nice enough, the average score is because i had to trek through the union to find some toilets, only to later realise there were some off the room.
• Ambience 4/10. Quiet, but geordie’s are notoriously friendly and chatty which improves this score.

Newcastle Total Score: 40/80

Busy week this week, Leicester and Birmingham for me…

Months of planning, have now been kicked into action and RMP are officially on the Campus tour for 09/10. We will be updating this blog with all the latest tales from our travels over the coming months, so make sure you check back soon!

It isn’t a place we get to very often, but last week RateMyPlacement were well covered in Lancaster; attending both the LUMS Mini Fair and the main Careers Fair in the Great Hall.

With reps covering the stand at the mini fair, it was my turn to attend the main Careers Fair and I was joined by Kat from Nestle for the FINAL KIT KAT CHALLENGE! (sniff). Tis’ the sign that we are nearing the end of our campus tour for 09/10…

All in all it was a good couple of days for RMP! We got a good number of signups and managed to speak to some really engaged students. Plus lancaster were very hospitable providing a shuttle bus from the exhibitors car park to avoid getting drenched and a great location in the main hall!

So here are the scores…

Overall Ratings

• Food: 7/10: Lasagne and Salad was a nice choice for a cold day. But i apparently missed the best part..garlic bread and for dessert gateaux!
• Freebies: 3/10. Very poor to be honest considering the number of employers in attendance. Worth noting Ernst and Young who even towards the end of the day had a fully stocked stand containing lollies (which were lovely!) and other great giveaways.
• Weather: 0/10. Horrendous! I should have worn wellies rather than pumps.
• Beer 2/10. The fair venue was on the other side of campus to the Student Union so no drinking holes nearby.
• Grounds: 7/10. Good, very well laid out and signposted…
• Greenery 7/10. Plenty around campus.
• Toilets: 8/10. Very clean.
• Ambience 6/10. A little quieter than expected, but our room was much more atmospheric than the smaller room at the back!

Lancaster Total Score: 40/80

Busy week this week, Leicester and Birmingham for me…

60 seconds… 20 Kit Kats… 1 Tower!

Working with our good friends at Nestle, we’ve recently been running the Nestle Kit Kat Challenge on campuses around the country. The Challenge? Simply build the highest tower out of 20 Kit Kat Chunky’s in 60 seconds…

The Results? Read on to find out more.

First to step up to the challenge….Aston University

The Kit Kat Challenge had its grand launch at Aston Uni last week and it seems to have been a big success! We had around 50 people take part, and had some cracking attempts. It’s surprising how passionate people can get when there is chocolate involved! Kit Kat fever quickly spread around the fair as we had a crowd of students eagerly awaiting their turn and discussing possible tactics.

The Results: Prettiest tower goes to the guy who made a hexagon, however the winner was Rajni who managed to get to a height of 40.5cm.

The benchmark had now been set so our next stop, Manchester Uni, School of Computer Science had a lot to live up to!

Round 2…Manchester School of Computer Science

After the success of the challenge at Aston Uni we were excited about seeing what Manchester would offer and we weren’t disappointed. It seems that the logical minds of the computer science students went into overdrive as they were measuring the Kit Kats and working out dimensions to help make their tower the tallest. After a period of strategic thinking, the students carefully began to build their towers. A note to future contenders however, no matter how much of a mathematical approach you take to the challenge, if you don’t have a steady hand then chances are it will topple!

It wasn’t just the students who were keen to take part in Manchester as a number of corporate reps also fancied their chances. After failing the challenge they then decided it was best to stick to eating Kit Kats rather than building with them!

The Results: An ever persistent Ian managed to build a tower that was 43cm tall! This was however, after about 5 attempts and therefore didn’t count (sorry Ian!)

In light of this the winner was James whose tower reached 40cm (only 0.5cm behind Aston!)

Birmingham University The next stop on the Kit Kat Challenge was Birmingham University Careers Fair. It didn’t take long for curiosity to set in and within no time students were grouping around the stall wondering what was going on (and also trying to pinch my Kit Kat Chunkies!) We had the most contenders so far at Birmingham, so hats off to them for their enthusiasm.

Also the award for most inventive structure currently sits with Birmingham as a group of students (who I believe were engineers) built not a tower, but a bridge out of Kit Kats. It wasn’t very tall but impressive non the less!

The Results: Throughout the day Patrick and his team of merry men were leading with a height of 37cm, this was then matched, but Tom Barnett pipped everyone to the post with a height of 37.5cm. Not quite as tall as Aston but a good result still.

Loughborough University Whilst Birmingham were attempting to conquer the Kit Kat challenge, Loughborough University were also having a go. Although getting off to a slow start things started to hot up in the last hour which saw the tallest tower to date and Loughborough crowned as the one to beat. Alongside setting records it got very exciting when the challenge started being filmed, giving students their 15 minutes of fame…look out for the video coming soon!

Having run the challenge at a few Universities we are seeing popular techniques appearing such as ‘the house of cards’ and ‘stacking’. At up and coming events we would like to see more of these techniques emerging so remember to get creative!

Top tip to future contenders: Remember to go for height not stability!!!

The Results: Highest tower was a staggering 43.5cm!!! Congratulations Loughborough

Months of planning, have now been kicked into action and RMP are officially on the Campus tour for 09/10. We will be updating this blog with all the latest tales from our travels over the coming months, so make sure you check back soon!

Excited to be back with RateMyPlacement after three weeks away on work experience, I shuffled my way through London and down to Brighton with my RateMyPlacement stand-up banner and clip boards in tow. On arrival at the venue I was told that the careers fair wasn’t until Thursday, it being a Tuesday I was slightly panicked. Luckily an onlooker came over and cleared up any misunderstandings and assured me that I was in fact in the right place as it was the ‘placement fair’ that I was supposed to be at! So, feeling a little bit silly I wandered off towards the fair location.

The fair was split into two sports halls, RateMyPlacement was situated next to Pepsico who had various consumable freebies – great result! Soon after I arrived I was joined by one of RateMyPlacements student reps, Anthony. He was a great help and we had a pretty successful day even though the turn out was relatively low. Many of the Brighton Students had already heard about the services RateMyPlacement have to offer and so were very keen to register, which was fab!!

I feel a need to congratulate whoever made the roast beef sandwiches they were amazing, thank you chef!!

All in all, a good day and I look forward to next week when I will be visiting Aston, Leicester and Cardiff Universities!!

Overall Ratings

• Food: 7/10. Cookies, lovely sandwiches, tea and coffee.
• Freebies: 6/10. Chocolate, crisps and Pepsi. Very nice!
• Weather: 1/10. Cold, dark and wet!
• Beer: 5/10. I didn’t have any, although I may as well have as I practically got drunk off the fumes coming from the Master of Malt stand who were giving away free spirits!
• Grounds: 6/10.
• Greenery: 5/10.
• Toilets: 5/10. Bit of a walk and pretty basic but adequate.
• Fancy Dress Costumes: 0/10.
• Hospitality: 8/10. I was warmly welcomed and was attended to throughout the day.

Brighton Total Score: 43/90