Placement Year

Our Placement Coordinator

How we help you:

The department is always available to offer you advice and guidance in the following areas: 

• how to search for opportunities and approach organisations in the field
• writing applications and CVs
• how to prepare for assessment centres and interviews. 

We also provide:

• Placement Lectures: These are embedded into students' timetables covering key areas of finding and securing a placement. 
• Industry-led sessions: Spotlight careers sessions that are delivered by organisations that recruit politics students. 
• Keep in touch events: We put on events throughout the year in conjunction with the University's Central Placement programme so that you can meet and network with other students seeking a placement year. 
• Daily Drop-In Sessions: Where students can arrange one-to-one appointments to discuss any aspect of their placement search with our Placement Coordinator. These include help with placement search, support with CV preparation, application guidance and interview advice and guidance.
• On Placement Support: We will support you whilst you are on placement. This includes providing a through pre-departure process and providing support and visits to you and your employer whilst you are on the placement. 

Why do a placement year?

The benefits of completing a placement year

The placement provides you with an opportunity to gain experience in a wide range of fields while putting your academic learning into practice. You could apply to roles that are related to your degree, such as the House of Commons Placement Scheme or a placement with Yougov, or to a business-related placement in a wide variety of organisations and industries. 

A placement will enable you to develop considerably, both personally and professionally. You'll increase your confidence and gain transferable skills such as:

• communication and interpersonal skills
• team-working and independent working skills

You'll also begin to build up a professional network and gain valuable awareness of workplace culture.

As employers place significant emphasis on all of the above in their recruitment, completing a placement year will enable you to boost your employability and have an edge when applying for graduate-level roles. 

Fees

Fees for your year in industry

You'll pay a reduced tuition fee when you're on a year in industry. For more information, visit the University's fees and funding page. 

"The department were amazing. They were supportive and regularly sent current job openings as well as met with me often to see how I was getting on with my search. They made it all seem normal. Like I wasn't about to embark on a huge life-changing experience. I think that was the most important thing for me. Whilst I knew it would be a big thing, I also knew it was the right thing and the university supported me through the whole search and beyond" Scott Milestone BA Politics placement student

Testimonials 2021

Theo Holland, Philosophy, Politics and Economics (with a placement year)

Placement: Research Assistant with York Health Economic Consortium (YHEC)

Why did you decide to pursue a placement?

I originally started looking into doing a placement year after seeing friends and family undertake one and, by hearing how highly they spoke of their experience. But perhaps, more importantly, was how those returning from a placement just seemed to know what they were doing and wanted in life. It was more than just being on top of deadlines, they were very active in searching out what they wanted and making it happen. They had a clear direction. I quickly realised that I did not want my university years to just disappear and for me to graduate without knowing how I want to use my degree. I wanted to make sure I was in charge of where I was going to end up and not just let life take me. A placement year was a great opportunity to start this. 

Despite not having a clue what area of work I would be interested in, I knew I would much rather make the mistake of going into the wrong area of work now for one year, than when I graduate. Also just having experience of having worked for a year would help me have a stronger CV so when I knew what area of work I did want to pursue, I could apply and compete more easily for it.

What are you getting from the experience?

My biggest takeaway so far is that I now have a clear career path I want to pursue. For a long time, I had no idea what I would do when I graduated or even what opportunities were available. Just the act of applying to lots of placements and companies taught me a huge amount about the areas available. Also, the process of applying for jobs was extremely daunting until I had experience with it. It took me a long time, and many failed attempts, to get my applications to a good standard. To learn all this in your final year on top of final year studies would be tough and I am glad to have a solid starting point already. Applications for many graduate jobs are right at the beginning of term too so it really requires you to be on it. It has given me a lot more confidence for when I graduate.

Within the two months, I’ve worked so far, I have learnt about an entire area of work I did not know existed and also just what it is like to work a 9-5 office job. It is such a different environment to being a student or having a summer job. It was a big learning curve off the start, learning how things are done here and even understanding what I am supposed to be doing. What has been great though is people recognising that I’m new and always offering me a hand. Doing a placement this year has definitely been a different experience from normal, with it all being online and having never met the majority of people I work with. I would like to think I have become pretty proficient at emailing at the very least. I have come to realise how key communication is, especially as you will rarely be working on a project completely by yourself. All my work involves a constant line of communication between the team to ensure we are all on the same page. Most of your work will depend on somebody else doing theirs and others depend on your work. Before being in an office environment there were many things, like this, that I’d never really think about. Also, the amount of time everything takes, so many routine tasks that need doing just don’t do themselves. 

Another thing I found was often you forget why you are doing a degree and that it is not just the grade classification that you get that matters. What you do throughout it is just as, if not more, important. The experience you get can be invaluable. My placement has really reminded me of this. It’s far too easy to cruise the degree and take it for granted. I know upon returning for my final year I will be looking at it in a new light and will actively tailor my course to aid me in realising the career I want. My first-year self would definitely be quite shocked to see my planned module choices! Taking a placement has been one of the best decisions I have made and it has given me a glimpse outside of the university bubble. 

Testimonials 2020

Laura Rodriguez, BA Philosophy, Politics and Economics (with a placement year)

Organisation: DAI

Role: Business Development Intern