Placements Winter Newsletter

Placements Winter Newsletter

Dear Part 2 students,

 

As we are leading up to the University winter break, we understand that time might be very tight for many of you juggling assignments and revision, as well as your placement search, so we thought we’d share a few tips for students looking for a placement year for 2025-26, to help save you some time.

 

Winter closure

  • Please note that the Careers and Placements service will be closing from the end of the day on Friday December 20th and we will re-open on Monday January 6th so there will be no 1-1 appointment availability during this time.

 

Digital resources and support

  • We recommend you check out our Placements Useful Resources page which has a wide range of links and tips for every stage of your placement preparation. These tips include where to look for placement vacancies, how to construct applications, CVs and cover letters, as well as navigating recruitment tests, interviews and assessment centres.
  • We don’t recommend you use AI to generate all of your CV / cover letter or application, but you can of course use it to help you do some research and also suggest use speech to text to help you transcribe any content for your applications.
  • Graduates First is a brilliant place to help you do any application research and can help you to prepare for most stages of the recruitment process, including interactive online tests to help you practice and some video interviews to watch, so do make good use of the resource.
  • If you have some spare time, you might also want to spend some time on LinkedIn doing some research, or improving your profile. LinkedIn also has a great jobs board with lots of placement opportunities.

 

Tracking your progress and keeping organised

  • It’s a good idea to keep on top of your placement applications with a spreadsheet or by popping the deadlines in your Outlook calendar a few days before the actual deadline date, to keep you on task, especially when you are juggling a few at the same time. Some placement providers will close the deadlines earlier, if they are oversubscribed, so if there is a placement you really want, make sure that you prioritise it.
  • Most students secure their placements between February to June, so don’t panic if you are still looking in the Spring, however do come and see us, email your Placement Coordinator or tutor, or placements@reading.ac.uk and get as much support as you need
  • University will reopen on January 6th and we’ll have lots of appointment slots for you to come along and see us.

 

What to do when you secure a placement

  • Whilst it is still early days in terms of securing a placement, some of you may receive offers in the next few weeks and months. It is a good idea to familiarise yourself with the next steps, once you have secured a placement. The most important thing to do first, is to let your Placement Coordinator know, and copy in placements@reading.ac.uk – we will then send you more information on the placement approval process.

 

If you have any questions about placements, please do reach out to us at placements@reading.ac.uk.

 

Wishing you all a restful winter break and we are looking forward to seeing you in the new year!

The Placements Team.

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