Are you considering - or already planning on - undertaking a Professional Placement Year?
This November, the Placements team are running their Placement Sprint Month - a calendar of events, opportunities and resources to help kickstart your placement search and preparation.
As part of our Placement Sprint Month, we're delighted to share a Q&A with Tawheed (Economics BSc), all about his experience of the British Airways Future Leader Business Placement, and advice for students currently applying for placement opportunities.
Q&A: Tawheed's placement experience at British Airways
Hi Tawheed! What led you to apply for a placement at British Airways?
British Airways has a very strong reputation for early careers talents and schemes. Notably the specific scheme I applied for was the Future Leader Business Placement, and this allowed for a vast amount of flexibility in my career choices as I have the opportunity to explore many aspects of the business. T scheme caters to the skills you would like to develop.
Did you need to have any previous experience to undertake a placement?
I did not need any previous knowledge or experience. This British Airways scheme accommodates for all aspects of your careers and people with and without experience.
What were the highlights of your placement?
No day was ever the same. I always had the opportunity to work on something new, and had the ability to pick up personal projects within my department rather than my manager just giving me tasks! I also shadowed and saw so much of the business. It I had to say some highlights - it would be the ability to shadow, and more notably shadowing Dispatch (the person involved in doing the turnaround of an aircraft)!
What advice would you give to students currently planning for and applying to placement opportunities?
My recommendation to someone who is stressed or struggling is to really research the company and understand what it is they look for - from values to looking at what other successful candidates’ skillsets are - to really understand what they want. My next key tip is to really know your experience and have a narrative you can talk about. This is key as you don’t need to have a huge amount of experience but be able to identify where your experiences fit into interview questions and able to apply it to aspects of the application. This is very important as I especially did not have a lot of experience but talked about them in a way that was applicable to the role. This also helps you use skills you did not think would transfer over into the role.
Has your placement experience provided you with skills and experiences you might use in your future career?
I believe all the skills and values I have learned from my BA and my professional placement will really benefit me and will transfer over in my future career. These are things such as: critical analysis, time management, teamwork and coordination, leadership and communication, and more.
Placement Sprint Month: kickstart your placement preparation
Kickstart your placement search and preparation with a month of activities and events from the Placements team.
Join our Placement Sprint Month throughout November to get support with finding, applying, and preparing for your Professional Placement Year. Plus, earn a Spriit of Sussex Award careers badge for taking part in all activities. The remaining activities for the month are:
- Find and Apply (Wednesday 11 November)
- Peer-to-Peer Mock Interviews (Wednesday 18 November)
- Exploring Opportunities Beyond Your Subject Area – Student Stories and Insights (Wednesday 25 November)
Online registration is required for the Placement Preparation Programme. No booking required (just turn up) for all other events.
Learn more about Professional Placement Years
Professional Placement Years are when you spend time working at an organisation or company, as part of your degree.
Most undergraduate degrees give the opportunity to do a professional placement year. If you are interested in doing a placement year as part of your course, you will need to apply directly to an employer.
The Careers and Entrepreneurship team are here to support you through our Placements Preparation Programme, which is a series of events and resources to help you plan for a placement year.