Placements and Study Abroad

Tab Content: Placements & Internships

Placements and Internships explained

The terminology can be confusing and is used interchangeably. At Lancaster, we use the term Placement to describe an extended period of work, typically 12 months and we expect you to be paid. Internships are shorter work experiences, taken during vacations. We support students into both kinds of invaluable work experience.

Is an Internship an integral part of your degree?

If you are studying the International Business Management degree, you will take an internship in your vacations between your 1st & 2nd year, 2nd & 3rd year and 3rd & 4th year. We are here to help you secure a rewarding internship. These are usually in the UK but can be in any English-speaking business environment. Your dedicated LUMS Placements and Internships team offer support through modules and a series of workshops.

If you would like to build your work experience with an internship, that is not a compulsory element of your degree, we can support you at any of our UG careers drop-in appointments. Link to page with drop-in times

LUMS One Year Undergraduate Placements

Every year more than 150 LUMS undergraduates take an extended period of paid managerial employment as part of their degree – usually for the third year of a four-year degree. For some of our degrees, the placement is an integral part of the degree, but on other degrees you can also take an optional placement year.

Why do a placement?

More and more employers are seeking graduates not only with excellent academic achievements but also experience of working. Working in industry as part of your degree has many benefits:

• Increases your graduate employability
• Practical insight into the competitive recruitment process
• Develops real practical work experience and vocational skills
• Application of your academic learning
• Extends your network
• Understanding and insight into business
• Growth in confidence and vital work skills

Placements are an excellent way to give your employment prospects a huge boost, and help you decide on your future career direction and the type of organisation you would like to work in. At Lancaster, we have strong relationships with employers so we are able to offer a wide variety of opportunities, and we will support you in finding a placement that suits you. Throughout your placement, you will have the support of the LUMS Placements and Internships team, who will keep in touch with you on placement and arrange a visit with your line manager to make sure everything is going well and you are gaining as much as possible from the experience.

Are you doing a Placement as part of your degree?

We support you from your 1st year with a Preparation for Placement taught module complemented by a series of carefully designed workshops and events throughout the second year.

If a placement is not part of your degree but you would like to include it, come to one of our Transfer to Placement presentations held in Michaelmas Term (bookable via TARGETconnect) and speak with your department.

Placement Roles and Responsibility

Our students can be found in a wide range of roles including: Marketing Assistants, Business Analysts, Sales Coordinators, Auditors, HR Assistants, Brand Strategists and Logistics Interns. The possibilities for your placement year are endless. Placement students expect to secure a suitable job role at graduate level, to maximise the experience you will gain and prepare you for the jobs market, so you will not spend your placement year making tea and doing the photocopying!

It is important to remember that for the 12 months you are on placement you are considered an employee of your employing organisation, and you will be treated in the same way you would if you were employed as a graduate. Our placement students are often pleasantly surprised by the amount of responsibility that they have during their placements, which makes the entire experience highly valuable. 

Applying for a placement year role

As with any job, a placement year job is a competitive process and the application process varies between different companies and different types of position. The great news is that we provide support in all aspects of the application process from creating a stand out CV, writing a great application to passing online gamification and psychometric tests to preparing for interviews, both virtual and face to face!

Although you are ultimately responsible for making your own applications, we have exclusive opportunities especially for Lancaster students, and we also circulate a weekly list of local and national placement year job vacancies. Our placements team will show you where to look for placement opportunities and how to approach companies you wish to work with. 

Lancaster University has excellent relationships with local, national and international employers and we regularly provide opportunities for you to meet employers on campus and talk to them about the placements they offer. You will also be able to connect to students who have already completed their placement.  

Developing your skills

Your industrial placement allows you to take the academic knowledge you have gained in your first two years at Lancaster University and apply it in a professional and practical environment. During your placement you will develop vital skills that will assist you when hunting for a graduate job and also be of great benefit to you when you return for your final year of study at LUMS. As part of your placement, you will become part of a team and gain experience of team-based working, collaborating with employees to put your problem-solving and time management skills into practice. You may be analysing data, presenting to teams, visiting clients or preparing a marketing strategy. These skills and experience will also prove to be of great benefit in your final year of university when dealing with group work, presentations and projects.

Students returning from their placement year are much more mature and able to see their academic subject in a wider perspective as they have been able to see first-hand how their degree subject applies in a practical context. Also, graduate recruiters look for applicants with work experience, commercial awareness, professionalism and a good work ethic. Students who have undertaken an industrial placement have all these attributes and more – this is what makes them more employable and desirable.  

Where do students do placements?

Our students work globally with a wide range of companies, from large corporations to small and medium-sized businesses.

We have excellent relationships with graduate employers and SMEs. Recent student placements have included Deloitte, L’Oreal, IBM, Body Shop, The Walt Disney Company, Unilever, Intel, Renault, Tesco, Rolls Royce, Aldi, EY, M&S, Morgan Stanley, GE Capital, Johnson and Johnson, Peugeot and many more. We also work closely with SMEs around the UK, creating unique opportunities for LUMS students and are proud to be recognised by the Small Business Charter for the role we have played in helping to kick-start British enterprise. Each year approximately ten percent of our placement students spend their year with an SME and we are continuously working to increase this number.

85% of the placements will be in the UK with 10% in the rest of Europe and 5% international. We offer a comprehensive package of support for all placement students. 50% of UK placements will be in the southeast of the UK.

The average placement salary in 2017/18 was £18,500

Targeted Support

There are three dedicated Placement Team members within the LUMS Careers Team including a fully qualified careers consultant.

Whether you are looking for a placement or internship we are here to support you to find suitable placements and internships, focusing on how to be successful in the recruitment process, and work with employers to bring insight into global, national and local companies.

Useful Websites

• lancaster.targetconnect.net
• ratemyplacement.co.uk
• targetjobs.co.uk
• milkround.com
• indeed.co.uk

Specialist Workshops

We offer a series of bespoke skill sessions and placement peer panels throughout the academic year, with topics including: Investment Banking and financial placements and internships, Creating your own placements and the Campus to Corporate series.

Please check TARGETconnect for the full details of these workshops, dates, times and locations.

Contact the LUMS Placements & Internships Team at lumsplacements@lancaster.ac.uk

Tab Content: Preparing for Placements

LUMS One Year Undergraduate Placements

• Students take a year in industry placement during year three of a four-year degree
• Every student has the option to take a placement year
• 85% of the placements will be in the UK with 10% in the rest of Europe and 5% international. We offer a comprehensive package of support for all placement students. 50% of UK placements will be in the south-east of the UK.
• Average placement salary in 2017/18 was £18,500
• There are three dedicated Placement Team members within the LUMS Careers Team including a fully qualified careers consultant.

Year 1

Your preparation starts during your first year when you will take the Preparation for Placement module which is delivered by the LUMS Careers Team, with insight from recently returned fourth year placement students, alumni and invited employers.

This module will support you in finding suitable placement opportunities, and how to be successful in the competitive recruitment process: creating stand out CVs, covering letters, application forms and completing psychometric tests.

At the end of the module you will have the opportunity to attend a formal assessment centre and an interview with some of the top graduate recruitment teams in the UK. Student complete an assignment applying for a mock role with a targeted CV and cover letter.

Year 2

During the second year students are supported to find and secure a placement and then to prepare for the change in role from “campus to corporate”.

We offer bespoke workshops and events throughout the year including Placement Peer Panels; Using Networking to Find a Placement; Email Etiquette, Effective Meetings; Confidence in Presenting; Using the Telephone in Business; and Dress to Impress.

We, along with the specialist careers coaches, offer 1:1 appointments and drop in sessions every week, in addition to online remote support to those on study abroad years. These sessions enable students to develop their individual strategy for their placement search and include CV and application reviews and mock interviews.

We work closely with employers to create unique opportunities for Lancaster University Management School students. We offer a service to employers for role creation, including shortlisting applicants and hosting interviews. Local SMEs particularly value this offer.

Students also begin their (departmentally based) dissertation or Work Based Learning (WBL) modules, which wrap around the placement year.

In your second year you will take a compulsory module which combines developing your employability skills in conjunction with your academic work. This is delivered by a partnership of academic departments, LUMS Careers and invited employers. There is a strong focus on students having the ability to assess their own development and to analyse their learning in the workplace. You will continue this work while on your placement in year 3.

Year 3

We call all students in the early stages of their placement to see how they are settling in and to address any concerns. Students also develop and submit regular reflective learning logs as part of their WBL. Students complete their dissertations or WBL module, presenting and producing reports.

We visit third year students whilst on placement, enabling insight into the placement experience and fostering the relationships we have with employers. These structured conversations enable students to reflect with their line managers on their learning and skills development, relate their academic theory to the practice and consider their future career plans.

Year 4

When fourth year students return from placement we welcome them back to University and ensure they make contact with the UG careers advisers to support them into their graduate roles.

We celebrate their placements with a Placement Student of the Year event, judged by a panel of employers and industry experts, where 1st and 2nd year students can gain insight from these stories.

We recruit fourth year students as Career Information Assistants and they are actively involved in peer support to first and second year placement students through events, workshops and buddying.

In Lancaster University Management School, DLHE (Graduate Outcomes) for placement students are usually 5% better than the non-placement student cohort and our internal research shows that a placements student’s starting graduate salary will be, on average, £1,500 greater than that of a non-placement student.

Resources and events

There is a dedicated Moodle page for Industrial Placement students which includes information that will be very valuable for your placement applications. The Moodle page is regularly updated so students are advised to check the page regularly. Information on the page includes:

• The LUMS CV template
• Practice psychometric tests
• Information on Assessment Centres
• Helpful hints on interviews and interview technique
• Placement profiles

Every year the LUMS Careers Team hosts over 100 career and employability events in the school, with employers visiting from a wide variety of sectors. Employers who visit us on a regular basis include: Aldi, BAE, Deloitte, HSBC, IBM, KPMG, PwC and Unilever.

These employer visits and presentations will provide you with the perfect opportunity to find further information on placement employers and speak directly to their recruitment teams.

Drop-in clinics and one-to-one consultations

The Placements Team are committed to providing you with the support that you need when preparing for your Industrial Placement. Each week during term time we host two drop-in clinics exclusively for placement students where you have the chance to speak with one of our advisors one-to-one for around 20 minutes.

Tab Content: Overseas Placements

We are very supportive of our students securing placement opportunities outside of the UK and each year approximately five percent of our placement students will work in the EU with an additional five percent working outside of the EU. Securing a placement overseas provides you with the experience of graduate level employment as well as 12 months experience of a different culture, environment and language.

If you do choose to take an industrial placement outside of the UK there are a few things to note:

• If the placement is in a different country with a different language it will be very difficult to work and enjoy the atmosphere if you do not speak that language.
• The application processes for countries other than the UK are likely to be different so it is important that you do your own research into the preferred customs and application styles. Prospects has some excellent resources for applying for jobs outside of the UK