1Hi, Laura - could you spare a few minutes to talk about the work placement you did last summer?
2I'm thinking of doing one myself...
3Hi, Tim. Sure.
4Didn't you do yours at an environmental services company?
5That's right...
6It's only a very small company
7and they needed someone to produce a company brochure,
8and I wanted to get some business experience
9because I'm interested in a career in occupational psychology in a business environment.
10It was good because I had overall responsibility for the project.
11What kind of skills do you think you developed on the placement?
12I mean, apart from the ones you already had...
13Did you have to do all the artwork for the brochure, the layout and everything?
14We hired the services of a professional photographer for that.
15I did have to use my IT skills to a certain extent
16because I cut and pasted text from marketing leaflets,
17but that didn't involve anything I hadn't done before.
18Do you think you got any better at managing your time and prioritizing things?
19You always used to say you had trouble with that...
20Oh, definitely.
21There was so much pressure to meet the project deadline.
22And I also got better at explaining things and asserting my opinions,
23because I had to have weekly consultations with the marketing manager and give him a progress report.
24It sounds as if you got a lot out of it then.
25Absolutely.
26It was really worthwhile...
27But you know, the company benefited too...
28Yes, they must have done.
29After all, if they'd used a professional advertising agency to produce their brochure instead of doing it in-house,
30presumably they'd have paid a lot more?
31Oh, yes.
32I worked it out -
33it would have been 250% more.
34And I thought the end result was good,
35even though we did everything on site.
36The company has quite a powerful computer
37and I managed to borrow some scanning software from the university.
38The new brochure looks really professional;
39it enhances the image of the company straight away.
40So in the long run it should help them to attract clients, and improve their sales figures?
41That's the idea. Yeah.
42Well, all in all it sounds very positive -
43I think I will go ahead and apply for a placement myself.
44How do I go about it?
45It's easy enough to do,
46because there's a government agency called STEP
47S-T-E-P
48- that organises placements for students.
49You should start by getting their booklet with all the details -
50I expect you can download one from their website.
51Actually, they've got copies in the psychology department -
52I've seen them there.
53I'll just go to the office and pick one up.
54Right.
55And then if I were you, after I'd looked at it I'd go over all the options with someone...
56I suppose I should ask my tutor's advice.
57He knows more about me than anyone.
58One of the career officers would be better,
59they've got more knowledge about the jobs market than your personal tutor would have.
60OK...
61And then when you know what you want you can register with STEP -
62you'll find their address in the booklet.
63And once you've registered they assign you to a mentor who looks after your application.
64And then I suppose you just sit back and wait till you hear something?
65They told me at the careers office that it's best to be proactive, and get updates yourself
66by checking the website for new placement alerts.
67Your mentor is supposed to keep you informed, but you can't rely on that.
68I don't suppose it's a good idea to get in touch with companies directly, is it?
69Not really...
70But it is the company who notifies you if they want you to go for an interview.
71You get a letter of invitation or an email from personnel departments.
72And do I reply directly to them?
73Yes, you do.
74STEP only gets involved again once you've been made a job offer.
75Right...
76So, once you've had an interview you should let your mentor know what the outcome is?
77I mean whether you're offered a job, and whether you've decided to accept it?
78That's right.
79They'll inform the careers office once a placement has been agreed,
80so you don't have to do that.
81Is that all then?
82More or less.
83Only once you've accepted an offer you'll probably have to supply a reference,
84because the placement will be conditional on that.
85And that's something you should ask your own tutor to provide.
86He knows about your academic ability and also about your qualities, like reliability.
87Well, thanks very much for the information -
88I'm starting to look...