Welcome back to paaarrtttt three in this series of posts on how to successfully secure a placement/year in industry. All advice is based on my own experience of applying and getting placement offers. As in my previous posts, I want to share everything I did right with the hopes that the application process will be more smooth for you :)
In this post, we'll be talking about the process of filling out job applications. Let's get started.
1) Staying organised
I highly recommend using an excel spreadsheet to keep track of what placements you applied for and where you are in the application process for the job. I would also copy the links of jobs I liked the look of, but hadn't applied for yet and filled in the Excel box with yellow (and turned it green when I applied).
To make dedicated time in the bustling student life for specifically applying to placements, I used Google Calendar to organise my time. I found it real useful. I would put my lectures, sports, placement application times all on the calendar. That way, I wouldn't forget to apply and was held accountable for what I did with my time.
2) Don't neglect your lectures, unless you have an interview.
Up to personal discretion of course, but try to make all your lectures if possible.
3) Workdays!
WhAT iS wOrkDaYs? Workdays is the 3rd party that a lot of companies outsource to for candidate applications. A lot of job applications on Workdays have the same format of asking for personal info, experiences, CV & cover letter. With that in mind, instead of typing out a Workday application each time you can copy and paste from a previous Workday application. However! You should make sure that you're spelling and grammar is completely flawless before doing so. Believe me, it's always worth it to double check. Also make sure the copy and pasted details are still relevant depending on the role you are applying for.
4) Double check you're application before sending it off.
One time I applied for a job and got an email back saying "Thank you Fahdah Sarah for submitting your application", because I had entered my first name where the last name should go. I wasn't surprised when they didn't progress my application.
5) Cover letters
As mentioned in the previous post, use AI assistance to help write your cover letters. Simply upload a really good previous cover letter, paste in a job description and then ask AI (I used ChatGPT) to adapt your current cover letter based on the job description. You could also upload your CV with the cover letter if you want it to branch out from the experiences only mentioned in the cover letter.
Cv approval, put you in touch with the right people, placment website, interview practise
when answering quiz questions, such as maths questions - use resources to hand if possible such as calculators, in some quizzes I even got highlighters out and highlighted things on my computer screen to help me.
I aimed to apply for 1-2 placements a day depending on how long the process takes. this may seem like a lot (and it was!) but I had the energy to do so. dont feel like you need to
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