Placement hunting, the ups and the downs

As the quest for graduate jobs begin, I’m left reflecting on my placement year and how I ever managed to secure such an amazing role. I should probably introduce myself, I’m Paige, a final year Marketing Management student at the University of Brighton.

Let’s rewind back to second-year, it’s November 2016 and placements are the talk of Uni, and I’m already starting to panic. When should I start applying? How do I find placements? What if I get rejected? I had to give myself a firm talking to. Once I had calmed down, I knew what to do. I thought to myself, if I nail the CV, the interview offers would start rolling in, but I knew I had to get in there early before the good jobs went.

I engaged the help of the placement office to reassure me that my CV was good enough and was made aware of their placement portal online with advertised vacancies. Once I got the green light, I started looking for businesses that tickled my fancy. I started applying for vacancies at big companies I had heard of, like The Body Shop and L’Oréal, I knew the competition would be tough, but I had nothing to lose. Then I received the dreaded emails with the following: ‘… unfortunately, on this occasion, you have been unsuccessful.’ I was so deflated. I started to question whether I would ever get a placement.

I persevered and decided to switch up my game, applying for vacancies at companies I didn’t really know but had amazing opportunities available. I got lucky and had an email inviting me for a phone interview. I must have said something right on the phone because they asked me along for a face-to-face interview. I’d smashed the interview and was the new marketing intern at Church & Dwight.

So, I just want to thank my second-year self for being persistent and to Church & Dwight for believing in me.