November 12, 2021, by Jackie Thompson

My Placement as a Website Content Creator

By Saffron Dusanjh, School of Economics

The faculty’s one day a week placement programme stood out to me as an excellent opportunity to gain skills in organising my time and balancing responsibilities alongside my studies. In addition, I thought it would be a useful chance to become more comfortable with interview processes.

The application

I applied for the placement through the Moodle vacancy portal using my university login. The process was straightforward, and there were tips on making the best impactful application and CV guidance to support.  Accessing the vacancies was also clear, with a section listing all the vacancies in alphabetical order, and plenty of details and information on each role including location, accessibility and the essential or desirable personal characteristics.  Researching the Fearless Youth Association (FYA) encouraged me to select this non-profit organisation as the selfless and positive values that underpin this organisation caught my attention.

The interview

Preparation for the interview involved an in-depth look at the FYA website and preparing answers in advance for possible interview questions. Student Services coordinated the interview between FYA and myself so I had the time to concentrate on the interview itself. I felt at ease during the interview as the interviewer was friendly and I was able to communicate my enthusiasm for the role.  My interview was via Teams, but FYA also does face-to-face interviews at their offices.

The placement

After securing the placement, one of my first responsibilities involved researching and writing an article covering a topic of my choice. Mental health within the South Asian community was my chosen subject and the freedom to choose the topic was something I really appreciated. Being able to write about my passion allowed me to write a good quality piece. The biggest challenge was finding sources that I could use to support my article. Alongside this, I created an informative social media post, which was posted to the organisation’s social media page to promote the article. It is rewarding to think that the article I wrote may have increased awareness of the issue. This was the task I most enjoyed during the placement.

Other responsibilities included admin work, attending Zoom meetings and creating social media posts. The placement at FYA offered an opportunity to practise my communication skills, which due to the pandemic, was not an opportunity that was as readily available as usual. I found the workload to be manageable alongside my university work, which was helped by having an understanding and supportive mentor.

Thinking of applying for a placement?

Anyone interested in securing more work experience alongside their university studies should consider applying for the placement programme. The placement was valuable to me in terms of developing my confidence in different areas. At first, I was unsure if I was going to be able to balance the requirements alongside university work. However, being able to do this demonstrated that I could manage my time effectively and was able to take on more than I initially believed I could. In addition, the feedback I received for my article was encouraging and gave me confidence in my writing ability.

The placements programme for the Faculty of Social Sciences opens on Friday 29 October. Find out more and apply.  This programme is only open to students from the schools of economics, politics, sociology & social policy, geography, law, and BA Education.  

Are you a student from a different faculty? Discover other work experience opportunities and vacancies on MyCareer.

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