What I learnt when applying for a Year in Industry

When I was applying for a year in industry, the whole application process seemed very daunting at first. I only decided to do a year in industry in the summer after 1st year, so I switched from the 3-year course by filling out a form- it only took 10 minutes to change my degree! The first year of the degree is the exact same for both courses, so it was very easy to change.

I think it’s extremely beneficial doing a year in industry as graduate roles are extremely competitive after university. Having a year’s work experience (even if it isn’t related to the career you actually want to go into) can make you stand out from other applicants, since there are so many transferable skills that you can learn from work experience that you can’t get from your degree. Also, I don’t know what career I want to go into yet, so having that year in industry is a trial of what that career would be like. Plus you get paid which definitely makes those student loans seem less painful!

When I came back to University in September, there was a Q&A session with students who had just come back from their year in industry, so it was a great opportunity to get advice from people who had been through the same application processes.

The best advice I received from the students is to have a document for each application you’ve made including:

• The application details: Sometimes they remove the application from the website after the deadline passes, so it’s really useful to save all information about it just in case.
• A copy of your CV and cover letter: I kept changing my CV and cover letter depending on the placement so it’s good to keep track on what you’ve already told them.
• Research about the company: Every company will ask you the question “why do you want to work here?”, so it’s very useful doing a bit of background research about their core values and some projects you’re interested in.
• Written questions and answers: A lot of applications use similar questions, so I was able to copy previous answers and save me some time.
• Your process with the application: One of the places I applied for got back to me two months later and I had completely forgotten about them!

During the autumn term of my second year, I found that applications took up A LOT for my time. I didn’t know what career I wanted to go into at all, so I applied to so many different ones, including accounting, audits, actuarial and data science. I made the mistake of not changing my CV that much depending on the job I was applying to and applying to loads at the same time. This meant I had a lot of online interactive and video assessments to complete in a week, which was very overwhelming. If I was to go through the application again, I wouldn’t apply to such a wide range of careers at the same time, and only apply to ones that you are really interested in.

I started to narrow down on what careers I thought suited me best and which ones I would enjoy the most. I eventually settled on a career in data science/ data analytics and once I had figured that out the application process became much easier, since it was a career that I was passionate in and that definitely came across a lot more in my video assessments.

The first video assessment I did was AWFUL. I usually hate talking about myself, so it was really scary talking into a camera. I also found it difficult to come up with answers to the questions quickly, but after a few practices (including talking to myself in my room, to my parents, and to my friends) I managed to get a lot more confident and that definitely came across in my interviews. Another thing that really helped was the Careers Network at Birmingham- they have a free AI CV checker that gives instant feedback and I could book practice interviews with staff from the Careers Network who gave me things to work on before the real interviews.

One of the modules I did was called “Mathematics in Industry” and one of the projects involved doing a report for the Office of National Statistics on how AI could be used in the government. I really enjoyed working on the project so I looked up if they had any work experience available and luckily enough they had placement years for data analytics in GORS (Government Operational Research and Statistics). I filled out the questions they wanted me to and got an interview invitation a few days later! I was very nervous at the beginning, but once I started talking about things I was passionate about I felt my confidence grow throughout the interview. It definitely made me stand out that I had worked on a project for them in my degree, and I ended up getting an offer a few weeks later!

Even if you aren’t entirely sure about applying for a year in industry/ summer internship, I’d recommend going through the application process, as it has definitely made me a more confident speaker and has made me realise how many skills I’ve learnt during my time at university so far.