Who Benefits and How?

University of Brighton students are employed for placements by companies of all sizes from SMEs to multinational corporations; from small consultancies to government offices and educational establishments.

Students are provided with the opportunity to apply their academic studies to the world of work and to further develop their skills, thus leaving their placement with increased employability skills, confidence and commercial insight. In return, companies benefit through low risk, longer term recruitment strategies, flexible, cost effective and creative ways of meeting staffing needs, and the fresh, innovative ideas, creative solutions and current technologies that placement students input.

Whatever your business type or company size our placement scheme can benefit your organisation, and here's how:

Recruitment:

As part of a longer term strategy to recruit the best graduate talent, placements can provide a low-risk method of recruiting and attracting the right employee by offering employers an opportunity to thoroughly assess a potential future member of staff throughout their placement year.

Staffing:

A flexible and creative way of meeting staffing needs in a cost effective way. A placement student can release other employees from day-to-day operations and enable them to undertake more strategic work. Placements can also be a way of finding excellent short-term staff to undertake specialised project based work.

Innovation:

Employers and organisations benefit from the fresh and innovative ideas and creative solutions that placement students bring to the work place. Placement students also often raise awareness within businesses of the developments and advancements within certain sectors and across various technologies that reflect the continually updated content of their degree course.

Cost/Added Value:

The 12 month placement is an extremely cost effective method of meeting staffing needs. The average salary is around £14,500 which is considerably lower than that of a graduate recruit. Additionally, because there is no cost to advertise opportunities through the Faculty Placements Office, a student can be recruited and employed with minimal recruitment cost outlay.

Giving Something Back:

The placement scheme is an excellent way of developing a relationship with the university and may enable the employer to benefit from research expertise. Many employers also feel that in addition to the benefits to their own company, through taking on placement students they are becoming part of and supporting something much broader – their local community, investment in education and training, investment in the future.

“Employing a placement student is a ‘win, win’ experience for Advent IT. We get second- to-none help with recruitment from the Faculty Placement Office and an eager, bright, motivated employee willing to go that ‘extra mile’ to please our customers and contribute to our business. Our recruits go through an enormous learning curve during their year with us making them ‘stand out from the crowd’ when they graduate”.

Ian Brownbill, Managing Director, Advent IT.

“The students we’ve taken on placement from the University of Brighton over the last 4 years have all done excellent work and provided great value for the audience to the BBC News website. As well as being an integral part of our content delivery team, placement staff bring energy and enthusiasm and a fresh pair of eyes to the way we do things. A placement on the BBC News website is an opportunity for students to gain experience of working on a product that has an audience of millions, working with experienced technical staff, journalists and designers. We work in an exciting environment where new developments in digital technologies are constantly driving change”.