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Aston Business School Placement Year: Frequently Asked Questions


Your placement year gives you the opportunity to try out your chosen career path and provides you with the perfect opportunity to apply what you have learnt on your course to a professional work environment. To help you in the process of finding and securing the right placement, we have provided the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about placement year, specific to Aston Business School students.

 

A placement year is a good time to try out a role or career path you may like to consider in the future.  Our placements cover all role types from traditional careers in Law and finance, to more service based roles in marketing, IT, operations, supply chain and customer service.

You can also immerse yourself in a new culture by working or studying abroad. We have partner universities across the world offering English speaking and language programmes. Companies abroad also offer English speaking and language opportunities.

Please Note: If you are thinking of studying a business programme with an International or language focus you will be required to do an overseas placement.

 

As well as studying at a university overseas, the Placements Team promote, advertise and bring a wide range of organisations from different business sectors and countries on to campus each year.  The placement opportunities are matched to our programmes of study and include roles from large Blue Chips to small businesses, charities and public sector in the UK and internationally.

The UK business sector consists of a large proportion of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs).  Taking an opportunity within SMEs can be exceptional experience as undergraduates gain exposure to the day to day running of a business.

This year we have had students on placements at Walt Disney, GlaxoSmith Kline, Xerox, PwC, GE, Deloitte, General Motors, Rolls Royce, Intel, IBM, BP, Kraft, Peugeot, Lloyds TSB, Delcam Plc in the UK and Mattel in the Netherlands, KPMG Chile, Amadeus in France and Spain and Deutsche Bank in France, Germany and Spain.

 

The Placements Team offer dedicated support to all students looking to do a placement year and provide support whilst on placement regardless if you are in the UK or abroad.

This includes: Placement e-bulletins with the latest roles and events, employer presentations, help with your placement search, advice on placement options available for your programme, CV and cover letter checking service, practice interviews and support with psychometric testing and assessment centres.

Many of our employers also come on campus to offer support throughout your placement search to assist with the application process.

 

The length of your placement year will depend on your programme. 

The minimum for Aston Business School is 12 months (48 weeks) full time.

 

No, for UK and EU students the Aston Business School programme is set up for a 12 month work or study placement year during your third year of study.

However, if you are thinking of studying a business programme with an International or language focus you can split your placement year into two equal parts. (For example a 6 month work placement and a 6 month study placement abroad or vice versa)
 

It is not compulsory, although as an international student you are encouraged to take a placement year in the UK as it is an excellent opportunity to gain experience of working in the UK. You are also able to do a placement year in your home country.

 

As a student you have access to the dedicated International Placements Team generating work and study opportunities throughout the world. We have students in a variety of countries including; Denmark, Canada, France, Spain, USA, Turkey, Italy, Brazil, Korea and Hong Kong to name a few.

 

Most placement years are paid opportunities and salaries range from £12,000 - £25,000.  The average placement salary is £15,000.

We do offer unpaid opportunities particularly in the 3rd sector. Many of these positions can work on a flexible basis so students can keep part-time jobs.

 

Yes, all placement years require course work.  The type of course work required will depend on your programme.  All Business School students have 2 pieces of work (Placement Essay and Reflective Journal) that count 10% towards your degree.

 

The Placements Team actively encourages employers in the UK and overseas to come on to campus to offer support to students and to promote their roles. Employer activity includes talks, presentations, networking sessions, drop ins and a wide range of skills based sessions to aid performance in assessment centres, telephone interviews group exercises, interviews etc.

Some employers also like to interview on campus and fast track suitable candidates to their next recruitment stage.