What are your main responsibilities in your placement role?
Farm Work, data analysis, carrying out a project, trying to increase the company's supply chain efficiency.
How did you find out about this placement opportunity?
Careers Service website.
How did you find out about this placement opportunity? Can you tell us about any help you received from Academic Tutors or the Careers Service while you were applying for placement opportunities?
Couple of meetings to give some tips on how to write a good CV.
Are you enjoying your placement? Can you tell us a bit about some of your highlights to date?
I am enjoying the experience so far. I have been to McDonald's Headquarters in London, and several different places around England, which was only possible due to this placement. Also, I have met very interesting people, with very different stories and origins, which had an enriching and positive impact to my personality and culture during this placement.
What is the most exciting thing you've done on placement so far?
Having dinner at the Farmers Club in London.
Please can you give us an overview of what a typical day on placement has been like for you?
My days vary a lot, as do not a fixed workplace or role, seeing that the goal of my placement is to gain an understanding of all the supply chain, meaning that I change from workplace to workplace quite often.
How has your degree helped you to be successful on placement?
All the theoretical knowledge I gained from my course was very important to understand all my surroundings and what was happening around farms or factories, which was very helpful over the first few weeks, seeing that everything was a new reality to me, so having a basic understanding of Agriculture and Business Management because of my Modules in University was crucial to me.
Do you feel that your placement with also equip you for life after University?
Yes, dealing with different people from different backgrounds, with different needs, working with Office 365 tools, such as Excel, Word or PowerPoint, creating work routines and improving my discipline and resilience.
What advice would you give to students thinking about doing a placement year?
Think about the goal that you want to achieve over the placement, talk to the placement supervisor about those goals and make the best out of the year. Remember that, despite being inserted on a company/farm/factory/..., the placement is an individual experience, and does not need to be the same for every student. Keep the goals you want to achieve in mind, think ahead and do not give up at the first obstacle, because there are very hard days, where it seems that none of the objectives set for the placement can be achieved, but after getting over those days, it feels amazing to get to the end of something, knowing how hard it was to get there.
