Students win graduate roles after impressing on placements

Students at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) impressed their bosses so much while on placement that they have been offered graduate roles.  


Katharine Whiting and Emily Hall, pictured with Nas Harrison

Emily Hall and Natalie Jackson, who graduated last week, picked up awards from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)’s Business School and told how their time on placement, organised as part of their degree, had started them on the first rung on their career ladders.

Emily, who graduated in Business and Management, spent her placement with multinational firm Hewlett Packard. She was able to put her learning into practice in the workplace, dealing with customer relationship management.

As her placement was coming to an end, she was offered a role as operational manager and was flown to California as part of her induction into the company, which has branches around the world.

She said: “I absolutely loved my placement and felt at home as soon as I started there. 
“Going to California for training was amazing, and I’m just so thrilled to have been given this opportunity.”



While at DMU, Emily was a course rep, helping to raise issues and suggest ideas from students to the university. She was an award for best course rep. “It was nice to know I have given something back to the university because the uni has given me so much and made me a better person, as corny as that sounds," she said.



Natalie Jackson (pictured above) has started work for WHS Plastics in Birmingham, which supplies luxury brands such as Jaguar. She worked in its human resources department as part of her placement, organised by the Business School’s work-based learning team.
 
Natalie, who studied Business Management and HRM, will be part of a team looking after the company’s 600-strong manufacturing staff. She said: “It’s the people I’ve always been interested in which is why I enjoyed studying human resources.

“I had such a good time on my placement and I know they didn’t want me to leave – on my last day there were some tears! When they said they wanted me back I did not hesitate.”

Hannah Javid, Marketing graduate, and Katharine Whiting, who graduated in Business and Marketing, have also landed graduate roles after completing placements.

DMU places huge emphasis on employability. Dedicated placement teams offer advice and support on applying for positions and students can also access help with preparing for interviews and assessment centres. Analysis by WonkHE of the recent Teaching Excellence Framework named DMU the best university in the country for helping students find highly skilled work or further study.

Another new graduate who impressed on his placement year was Hamza Abba, who took a First in Accounting and Finance, picked up the Business School’s prize for outstanding performance in the workplace for a successful year with Triumph Motorcycles, in Leicestershire. He received a glowing tribute from manager Sean Sketchley who praised Hamza’s attention to detail and enthusiasm.


Mr Sketchley wrote: “He was very enthusiastic, he had very good knowledge and a strong work ethic. 
Hamza has been a great asset over the past year and thoroughly deserves to be recognised for his great effort and attitude to work.”

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Hamza is now working for Sainsbury’s in the supermarket giant’s financial division but said he loved his time at Triumph and praised the Business School’s placement office which works with students to help them get useful, practical experience to put their learning into practice.

He said: “The Triumph placement was a huge opportunity. I had a really good relationship with my manager and gradually, I was given more autonomy on tasks in the financial division. 


“The placement office team helped me and I was so lucky to find somewhere like Triumph that trusted you to play a part in the business. “DMU has been fantastic throughout my journey and I will miss it.”