“You Need To Stand Out”

Q: So where did you go on placement?

“I did a placement at a company called Wolfson Micro-electronics, which has since changed it’s name to Cirrus Logic. I was doing Infrastructure Services. My course is Business Information Systems so at the time I was looking for a related work placement. Luckily I found one on E-Placement Scotland, and with the help of the support we've got here, I managed to get the job, which was really good. The actual job itself is largely helpdesk, but it's a bit more dynamic, because you learn skills across the board. I also managed to progress into managing in external customer support.”

Q: What does the company do?  

“They make semi-conductors.  So for instance, a Cirrus chip will be in your phone and it controls the sound within that. I'd never heard of the company either, don't worry!”

Q: What made you want to do a work-based learning placement?

“In my opinion, and I'm not sure if everyone would agree, it seems that everyone leaves university with a degree. The degree varies, but how do you stand out from that? You need to make yourself as employable as possible and stand out. For me, that was a placement. I thought it was the best way, because realistically degrees in IT don't last forever. It's an ever changing world out there, you can't expect your degree to still be relevant in five years because it likely won't be. For me, it was important to get in there as soon as possible, and the route to that is picking up a placement and attaining the relevant experience to move forward in line with your goals.”

Q: You mentioned the support at Edinburgh Napier, how did they help?

“A lot, they definitely helped. There was a lot of drive for people to do work-based learning in first and second year. The university brought in companies like IBM, who I went to a session with. We got to meet them, and they told us what their internship was all about and they got us to do a mock sales pitch, where we designed a system and pitched it to them. It was great to get feedback from these companies to see exactly what they wanted, and to look for jobs that were in line with my goals. I also went to CV workshops to try and improve on my CV. From there the CV Workshops helped me adapt my CV into a fairly professional CV that turned all the skills I had learned into transferable skills as opposed to silly comments on a CV. That turned it into a professional CV and that definitely got my foot in the door with a couple of organisations. I also discussed what may be asked in an interview and went over that with the Placement and Careers Office. That was really useful. I asked some important questions and discussed how to approach an interview, what to talk about and more importantly what to ask, because that's also something that really makes an impact. I would definitely say the help on offer at Edinburgh Napier was one of the key factors in getting my placement at Wolfson.”

Q: And do you think the placement you completed has helped you for the future? 

“For the jobs that I'm aiming for, you need to have at least two years relevant experience, because I want to aim for potentially analytics with a view to eventually work in infrastructure management or enterprise management. Something with the management word in it anyway, that would do! That's where I want to go, but without two years relevant experience, I would be behind. I'm managing to pick that up while I'm at University, so it's win, win for me. I'm picking up the relevant skills and experience I need to move forward to these jobs, so I'm quite happy. I continued into the summer and part-time with the company after my placement, so I'm moving onto two years now that I've been at the company. Before my placement, I can't even remember what I wanted to do before. It's totally opened my eyes to what's available, and I suppose that's the best answer I can give to the question!”

Q: Sum up your placement in three words.

"Invaluable. Enlightening. Unforgettable."