An e-skills Professional Placement can help you build skills, improve your university results and even land a job
Develop practical skills and improve your career prospects by completing an e-skills Professional Placement.
Led by employers and certified by e-skills UK, these placements give you valuable hands-on experience for a future career. Since the major focus is on building interpersonal and business skills, you don’t need to be doing a degree in a computing-related discipline to participate.
What are the advantages of doing a placement?
Placements give you the opportunity to:
- improve your employability: develop business skills that can only be learnt in the workplace
- get better university results: many students improve their university results by up to a grade after completing a placement
- earn while you learn: with an average salary of £14-16,000, you can get a head start on repaying your student loans
- get a job offer well before graduation: students who impress their managers are often invited to work for the company after graduation
What sets the e-skills Professional Placement apart?
The e-skills Professional Placement offers significant advantages over other schemes:
- a structured approach to skill building: in order to participate, employers must agree to monthly meetings that give you the chance to review your progress, set goals and clarify expectations
- support from your university: your university will meet with you before and during your placement to make sure you get the most from the experience
- a more meaningful experience: our internship scheme is employer-led, so your certificate carries significant weight with them
- eligibility for the National Skills Academy for IT: complete an e-skills Professional Placement and you can sign up with the National Skills Academy for IT, giving you a head start over other computing graduates
- increased opportunities for networking: the employer-led events held during the year are an excellent opportunity to network and develop contacts
How does it work?
1. The first step is to find an appropriate placement. Your university careers centre can help, and you can also get ideas from sites like RateMyPlacement
2. Once you’ve found a placement upgrade to an e-skills Professional Placement by registering with us – there’s no cost to you. Register with e-skills UK
3. To earn your certificate, outline your achievements each month by completing a one-page form on the online e-skills UK Community. Your manager will sign off on these forms and work with you to develop appropriate goals for the next month.
4. At the end of the year you and your employer will need to complete one final online form. If you’ve completed the full placement and your manager feels you’ve done well, you’ll receive the award.
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