Welcome to my April blog. This month’s theme will continue with education and in particular this month we will cover work placements/experience, sandwich years and graduate schemes.

Any employer will tell you that alongside your degree or other qualification, some form of relevant experience will go a great way to helping you become successful in a job application.

Your qualification alone will of course provide you with valuable knowledge and skills but work experience will add a very important element to your personal development.

In most forms of HE education there is usually an opportunity to gain work experience/placements. Some courses may have modules dedicated to them; others will expect you to carry this out alongside your studies whereas most universities will offer a ‘sandwich’ year which is a year out of education which is replaced for a year in industry.

The more work experience you can gain throughout the time you are in education, the more you will learn, the more people you will meet and the higher your chances of being employed in a job role you wish to be in.

Graduate schemes are job positions suited to graduates who have just finished their bachelors or masters degree. These training programmes tend to last for 1-3 years and include a range of roles and training on the job. Throughout your time in that company you will grow and develop whilst experiencing all elements of the company which should then allow you to realise the areas/departments you wish to be placed in, should you be successfully employed at the end of the graduate scheme.

Finding a placement/experience/scheme is not difficult but time consuming. You need to be searching the internet, phoning, emailing and visiting companies and race teams. Graduate schemes and sandwich year placements are often advertised between the start of the academic year and Christmas whilst placements can be found throughout the year.

Gaining a placement will give you a valuable head start in your career and an area that you should dedicate a lot of time and effort too. Here at Bridgwater College we have also had students who have found employment during work placements.

Simple internet searches, visits to local race events and motor clubs will ensure you get to speak to the right people…go for it!