by Hannah Wiseman (Curriculum Projects Assistant, NTU Psychology)

I’m Hannah Wiseman and I am currently on my placement year working as a Psychology Curriculum Projects Assistant for NTU Psychology. Ironically this post is going to be all about my placement search in the hope that it can reassure and inspire any of you who are on the hunt for a placement!

The search for a placement can be very stressful and overwhelming. I knew a placement year was something I really wanted to do. This was because I thought it was a great opportunity to gain experience, enhance my degree and to help to narrow down what I wanted to do after university. But, in all honesty, it would allow me to delay finishing my course and entering the real world! As someone who was pretty unsure which direction I wanted to go in after university, I didn’t know where to begin.

About this time last year, I began to search the entire web with multiple Google searches for ‘psychology placements’ or with similar phrases, I quickly realised that a lot of placement opportunities seemed to be aimed towards more practical degrees and little was appearing for Psychology. Nevertheless, I found a few and applied to as many as I could. I made use of the NTU Employability Team to help improve my CV and I ended up being invited to two assessment centres around January time. I was declined from both and I remember this being the time that my friends were starting to get offers, so it was hard not to be disheartened. However, I learned a lot from these assessment centres, and they were great practice for interviews in the future. 

Image: Tonik via Unsplash

I continued to search for placements but the COVID-19 lockdown affected this. The uncertainty obviously meant few jobs were being advertised and I started to give up hope. However, it wasn’t until August 2020 that I saw my current position advertised. The university had received funding which meant the Psychology Department could offer two placements. I spent a lot of time on my application and I got the job! This only happened weeks before I thought I was beginning Third Year.

I am only a month into my placement at NTU but so far, I am really loving it. I have a few projects on the go, including working with the student mentors, developing NTU Psychology’s Instagram page with Dr Sarah Gardner and Dr Beth Jones, and looking at employability within the curriculum with Dr Glenn Williams. There are also exciting projects lined up including potentially working with the BPS. The placement is an excellent opportunity, and it has already got me thinking about what I want to do after university; marketing/social media is a route I am keen to pursue. I think the moral of my search is to not give up hope because you never know the opportunities that will just pop up.

After sharing my story, I have put together a few tips that I hope might help you:

Image: Jon Tyson via Unsplash
  • Be proactive:
    • Make the most of NTU Employability too, as they are here to help and a vital resource.
    • Use this time to think about what you want to do in the future, if you don’t already know, as this will really help you search for placements.
    • Look on all the obvious websites (e.g. InPlace, Rate my Placement) but also be proactive by emailing companies that you may like to work for.
    • Use LinkedIn to see where previous students who have been on a sandwich course are currently working and use this as a lead-in to contact employers.
    • Make use of any contacts you may have, whether these are people in jobs or previous students, who could help you with advice.
  • Gain experience:
    • Why wait until your placement year? Your Second Year is a great time to gain experience that you can talk about in your interviews. I took part in the Grads4Nottm scheme (I highly recommend it!) in summer 2020 and this helped me so much as it was really relevant to the placement I ended up securing.
    • There are loads of great volunteering opportunities that you could do alongside your studies and you may not want to be leaving this until your Final Year of study.
  • Don’t panic/give up:
    • Keep searching, and don’t panic if people around you are securing placements. The worst-case scenario is that you enter your third year of study, so all is not lost.
    • It is hard but I am sure you are doing the best you can in your search. Opportunities can pop up out of nowhere or at the very last minute.
  • Consider unpaid placements:
    • I understand this may not be feasible depending on a number of factors, but if you are really set on a placement year there are some good unpaid placement opportunities, particularly those looking for Psychology students.

Thank you for reading and good luck with your placement hunt!

Hannah