Employers are always looking for candidates with work experience.
If you have experience, it means you, the person they are thinking of employing, have already proven yourself in a professional setting, enabling you to hit the ground running in your new role.
This is why a postgraduate course which offers a Professional Placement option is invaluable, and why we offer these routes here in the Business, Law and Social Sciences faculty. Here are just a few reasons why you should consider taking a Professional Placement during your studies.
Gain work experience
The most obvious advantage to the Professional Placement route is that you graduate with six months of reputable work experience, giving you an edge over other recent graduates with similar degrees. You won’t need to be wary of any job advert that mentions a need for “work experience”, as you’ll already have months of experience under your belt!
The placement will also take place after your other modules have been completed. This means you can afford to study full-time during the first 12 months of your degree, knowing you aren’t missing out on the opportunity to gain work experience by not having a full-time job. You will graduate six months later than those on the 12 month degrees, but with a lot of added value on your degree.
Relevant to you
You may have been sent on work experience when you were in secondary school, perhaps stacking shelves at a supermarket. Postgraduate placements are much more relevant to your future career. We encourage our students to find placements that tie in very closely to their chosen area of study.
For example, if you are undertaking a degree in International Law, our Careers+ Team can help you find law firms that deal with international cases. Similarly, we have a large range of contacts with large accounting firms, ideal for anyone studying accountancy at postgraduate level.
Opening doors
While no placement can guarantee a job at the end, it certainly doesn’t hurt to show a potential future employer what you can do during a placement. When future job opportunities come up, you already have a significant advantage over outside candidates. If nothing else, a placement is a great networking opportunity, which can pay dividends later on in your career journey.
Range of subjects
Our Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences offers a wide range of subjects that come with Professional Placement opportunities. This means that no matter what area you see your future career lying in, we’ll probably have a course to suit you.
Those of our postgraduate courses with a Professional Placement option include:
Birmingham City Business School
- MSc Accounting and Finance
- MSc Finance and Investment
- MSc Global Business Operations
- MA International Human Resource Management
- International MBA
- MSc International Professional Accounting (ACCA)
- MSc International Sport Management
- MSc Management and Entrepreneurship
- MSc Management and Finance
- MSc Management and International Business
- MSc Management and Marketing
School of Law
- LLM International Business Law
- LLM International Human Rights
- LLM International Law
- LLM Islamic Business Law
School of Social Sciences
