Business School students transform their career prospects through placements
Southampton Business School undergraduates, who are now on a year’s work placement in industry, came back to University to exchange notes and find out more about how to use their experience in the workplace in writing their final year dissertation.
Head of Southampton Business School Professor Martin Broad and Director of Enterprise Paul Bennett welcomed back BSc Accounting and Finance, BSc Business Management and BSc Marketing students to the University.
The lunchtime event was also an opportunity for first and second year Business School students to talk to placement companies and discover more about the wide variety of placements they could apply for.
“Our students are certainly impressing employers during their placements and many will go back after graduation as permanent employees,” says advisor Rochelle Clark.
BSc Business Management student Annie Newlands is on placement at the beauty firm, Coty. Based in London, Annie is working as a Retail Sales and Training Assistant, working with world-famous brands such as Chloé, Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein fragrances: “Coty is a very exciting place, I love the brands and I’m enjoying my placement there. I work with retail consultants across the country to keep them informed about new developments.”
BSc Marketing student Matthew Wilson is on placement at Rainbow Designs in Gosport producing merchandise under licence of well-loved characters including Paddington Bear and Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit: “Working with a small company means I get involved with many activities. I’m learning a great deal through meeting buyers from Tesco and maximising sales through effectively managing our account with Amazon.”
BSc Accounting and Finance student Prabin Sunar impressed managers at his placement company Meridian Corporate Finance so much that they offered him a job on graduation: “My placement gave me responsibilities and exposure to the market that I never expected and I worked closely with senior managers, accountants and lawyers putting into practice what I was taught at University while also gaining new knowledge and experiences every day.” His manager Philip Mettram adds: “Prabin is very personable, good with clients and has an excellent work ethic. We were delighted to make him an offer to join us as a member of staff.”
BSc Stefan Georgiou works in Human Relations at Glaxo Smith-Klein (GSK): “I have got involved with all aspects of recruitment from advertising, interviewing, employing and developing their rotations within the company. I’m also working in the commercial sector on consumer healthcare and hope to join the company on its graduate scheme.” His supervisor Claire Jones adds: “Stefan has shown great maturity with us and has settled in very quickly and is producing some great work.”