Student Executive Report -

Student Executives
SUPPORTINGSTUDENTS' PLACEMENT
SEEKING ACTIVITIES
Overview:
Project in support of 'I'm developing my...' brand
focusing on delivering recommendations for pre-
placement preparation support at Level 4 and
placement seeking support at Level 5 for UK and
international students.
The aim is to produce recommendations for the
format and content of communications to Level 4
and Level 5 students.
Melissa Turner, Matilda Hawes,
Komal Mirza, Stephanie Tsepo
Masuwa and Arif Muradi
Mentored by: Michelle Blackburn
Sheffield Business School

2
Tableof Contents
1.0 Introduction .........................................................................................................................3
1.1 Aim....................................................................................................................................3
1.2 Objectives........................................................................................................................... 3
2.0 Method.................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Strengths of the Study.........................................................................................................4
2.2 Approach............................................................................................................................ 4
2.3 Limitations of the Approach.................................................................................................4
3.0 Findings ................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Comparative Background Demographics .............................................................................. 6
3.2 Level 4 Analysis................................................................................................................. 11
3.3 Level 5 Analysis................................................................................................................. 23
4.0 Recommendations .............................................................................................................31
4.1 Preparationfor Level 4 Students........................................................................................ 31
4.2 Preparationfor Level 5 Students........................................................................................ 32
4.3 Recommendations for Further Research............................................................................. 32
5.0 Appendices.........................................................................................................................34
5.1 L4 Questionnaire............................................................................................................... 34
5.2 L5 Questionnaire............................................................................................................... 37
5.3 Supplementary Data.......................................................................................................... 41
5.3.1 What prompted you to decide whether or not to do a placement(L4)?......................... 41
5.3.2 What prompted you to decide whether or not to do a placement? (L5)......................... 42

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1.0 Introduction
Work-based placements are imbedded within the ethos of Sheffield Business School and
Sheffield Hallam University. The university is currently the largest in Great Britain to offer a
placement year to students on enrolled courses, with placement years usually occurring
between the second and third years of study. Currently the Languages course is the only
course where a placement is compulsory for students. The relationship between work
placements in sandwich courses and subsequent short-term employment outcomes tend to
find sandwich students are advantaged in the labour market, at least in the early part of
their careers (Bowes and Harvey 1999; Mason et al. 2003). With Sheffield Hallam University
continuously expanding and the student population growing there is pressure to ensure
students are receiving the support and guidance they need to secure a placement in order
to make them more employable. Student dynamics are also evolving with more mature and
international students than in the past, who have very different circumstances to those of
average undergraduates. This report will examine the current strengths and weaknesses of
the university’s approach to supporting students and the position of Level 4 (L4) and Level 5
(L5) students across the Business School, in order to consolidate key recommendations to
increase the uptake of students taking placements.
1.1 Aim
To produce recommendations for the format in which to communicate placement
information and support to L4 and L5 students and the content of the support offered.
1.2 Objectives
- To review L4 and L5 students’ understanding and motivation to look for a placement
- To identify routes to communicating placement information more effectively with L4
and L5 students
- To examine the sources of support that were highly valued by placement seeking
students
- To establish motivating factors that influence a students' decision to do a placement

4
2.0 Method
2.1 Strengths of the Study
The Student Executive team were organised to cover scheduled placement support lectures
in semester two for L4 and L5 students across Sheffield Business School. Two
questionnaires were designed for each Level of study using the Socrative app. The L4
questionnaire consisted of 18 questions and the L5 questionnaire consisted of 19 questions,
each prepared to appropriately fit the aim of the study. Altogether 366 students completed
the questionnaires.
2.2 Approach
Prior to each lecture attended by the Student Executive team, the lecturers were emailed
with details about the contents of the study and what instructions were required of their
students to complete the questionnaire. At the start of each session, the lecturers informed
the students about how to gain access to the relevant questionnaire. This could be done by
either going to the Socrative website (m.socrative.com) or downloading the Socrative app
on to their smart devices. They were made aware this could be done at any time while they
were in the lecture.
A facilitator (a member of the Student Executive team) was then required to open the
questionnaire by logging in to the Socrative Teacher app where the questionnaire was
saved. This would open the questionnaire for access to anyone who was logged in to
Socrative Student. They would not be required to create an account or log in individually;
rather they simply entered their student code and could complete the questionnaire.
Students were briefed by the facilitator on the reason for the study and their right to
withdraw from the study at any time.
Their responses were recorded immediately and able to be viewed in the Socrative Teacher
app live (as they were responding to the questions), with a percentage completion rate
shown for each participant. The facilitator would then save the responses and close the
questionnaire when they deemed to have gotten all the responses they would get. The data
could be downloaded from the Socrative Teacher app as summarized results in Microsoft
Excel format and Google Sheets (if desired), allowing easy comparison of results for L4 and
L5 and further manipulation of data for detailed analysis.
This was a strength of the Socrative questionnaire approach, as it provided instant and clear
data instead of leaving the Student Executive team with endless data to sort through.
2.3 Limitations of the Approach
As Socrative does not have an auto-save function, without thorough training on how to use
Socrative there was a possibility that data could be lost. However, Socrative does have a pop
up message where it asks to save the data before exiting and also if the back button is
pressed accidentally. Therefore, the likelihood of data being lost in this way is minimal.
The L5 lectures that were attended, due to the nature of the lectures themselves, mostly
only captured students who had not yet secured a placement and those who were
sufficiently engaged enough to attend the lecture in the first place, especially as many of the

5
lectures took place on a Wednesday afternoon where some students may have had a sports
or other commitment to attend instead. Following this, there is a clear need to capture the
thoughts of students who have successfully secured a placement and those who may not be
as engaged as the participants in this study. For future research it is perhaps suggested that
data capture should be completed in regular timetabled lectures in the hopes of increasing
the response rate and also gaining a more representative sample. Additionally, it could be
useful to conduct the questionnaires during both semesters one and two to compare the
differences in responses between these times and mark any changes.
In relation to the responses received from the questionnaires, participant fatigue lead to a
retention rate from start to finish of 72% across the sample. The base number beside each
graph in section 3.0 is the number of responses recorded for that particular question.
In hindsight the questionnaire generated for L4 and L5 were both too long at 18 and 19
questions respectively. It was evident when analysing the data that many students lost
interest after completing 80% of the questionnaire or when they were given an open
question requiring them to type a written response rather than just tick a box. It is therefore
clear that single or multiple choice boxes worked more effectively, and it is suggested that
for specific open questions a focus group might be more appropriate than a questionnaire.

6
3.0 Findings
3.1 Comparative Background Demographics
The graphs and charts below show a comparison of the responses given by L4 and L5
students to the same questions.
Figure 1 compares the samples for L4 and L5, with the percentage of international students
that make up each. It can be seen that there are a higher number of international students
part of the L4 group than the L5 at 18% compared to just 9%. There is also a larger sample in
general for L5 than L4, with 207 participants compared to 159.
A few students selected both the college/school and employment options when answering
this question; however this has been counted simply as school/college rather than
employment as it is likely they meant they were working while at school/college. The
82%
91%
18%
9%
0
50
100
150
200
250
Level 4 Level 5
NO.OFRESPONSES
Are you a Home (UK) or International
student?
Home (UK) International
Base: 366
L4 Base: 159
L5 Base: 207
13%
81%
3%
3%
1%
11%
85%
2%
1%
0%
0 50 100 150 200
Full/Part Time Employment
School/College
Other Formal Education
Other
Unemployed
NO. OF RESPONSES
What were you doing directly before you started
your course here at Sheffield Hallam University?
Level 5 Level 4
Base: 359
L4 Base: 157
L5 Base: 202
Figure 1
Figure 2

7
majority of students across both years (average 83%) were in education at a college or
school prior to starting their degree, with an average of 12% in part or full time employment
instead. The result in this graph can be taken to mean that the majority of students will not
have long term full-time working experience prior to attending university.
Figure 3 shows a breakdown of the courses that make up the sample population of
students. Over 140 students are on Business-related courses, making up approximately 40%
of the entire sample across both years of study. In cases where there is a single student (1%)
on a course (e.g. for L5 Finance and Accounting), this is where the Student Executive team
has taken part in the study. As the questions were answered honestly by the members of
the team with the views reflecting their own true views as at L5 semester two, this
contribution has not been removed from the results and it is believed this has no impact on
the results due to the fact that the Executive team makes up an insignificant fraction of the
total number of participants. This contribution has been made for the following courses: L4
Food, L4 Tourism, L5 Finance and Accounting and L5 Languages.
34%
8% 13%
1%
25%
8% 10%
1%
45%
33%
1%
7%
0%
1%
14%
0%0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Business
(including all
related
courses)
Events Finance and
Accounting
Food Hospitality Languages Marketing Tourism
NO.OFRESPONSES
What course are you on?
Level 4 Level 5
Base: 354
L4 Base: 156
L5 Base: 198
Figure 3

8
9%
3%
20%
2%
5%
10%
2%
51%
6%
3%
17%
6%
4%
19%
2%
42%
0 20 40 60 80 100
I am (or have been) a course rep
I have done some volunteering via Hallam Union
I have joined a Union Society or Club (including Sports) -…
I have joined the SBS society linked to my course (and…
Other (eg student executive, student ambassador,…
I have been involved in 2 or 3 of these aspects of university…
I have been involved in 4 or more of these aspects of…
I haven't done anything yet
NO. OF RESPONSES
How involved have you been in your university life so far?
Level 5 Level 4
Base: 339
L4 Base:152
L5 Base:187
This graph shows that again L4 and L5 responses are generally aligned. The majority have
had 2 or 3 different types of work experiences, with 15% having 4 or more experiences.
There are more people in the second year who have 2 or 3 experiences (57% compared to
47%) which could indicate that between their first and second year students do attempt to
gain further work experience.
On average, L5 are slightly more involved in university than L4, however there are still a high
percentage of students (at 42%) who have not been involved at all. This could correlate with
a general reluctance to get involved in the placement search in their second year. Looking at
these results by course across years, there is no significant difference between L4 and L5,
except for with Business students as shown in Figure 6.
5%
20%
1% 6% 1% 4%
47%
15%
2%
16%
2% 5% 3% 1%
57%
15%
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
NO.OFRESPONSES
Which of the following types of work
experience do you have?
Level 4 Level 5
Base: 350
L4 Base: 156
L5 Base: 194Figure 4
Figure 5

9
Activity L4 Business L5 Business
Course Rep 4 4
Volunteering 2 0
SBS Society 1 4
Sports club 13 16
Other 2 2
2 or 3 2 18
4 or more 0 2
Nothing 28 41
Total 52 87
% Nothing 54% 47%
% Multiple (2+) 4% 23%
For Business students there is an increase in the percentage of students doing multiple
activities at university and a decrease in the number of students who have not participated
at all. There is no other significant difference between years of study.
A greater percentage of students have a working CV at L5 as compared to L4 by 17%. There
is also a decrease of students who do not have a CV at all, from 11% at L4 to 2% at L5, and
an average of approximately 50% across both years have a CV that requires work. This could
suggest that students need support with completing their CV both before leaving L4 and in
semester 1 of L5.
11%
54%
35%
2%
46%
52%
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
No Yes - but it needs work Yes - and it is ready to use
NO.OFRESPONSES
Do you have a CV?
Level 4 Level 5
Base: 338
L4 Base:151
L5 Base:187
Figure 6
Figure 7

10
53%
19%
5%
2%
11%
4%
2%
1%
2%
9%
34%
14%
8%
9%
21%
2%
1%
1%
0 20 40 60 80
International (overseas) opportunity
UK opportunity - large company
UK opportunity - small to medium enterprise
Within 20 miles of Sheffield
International and UK opportunities outside of Sheffield
All UK opportunities (both in and out of Sheffield)
Open to international, UK and Sheffield opportunities
Other
Not applicable
NO. OF RESPONSES
If you are hoping to do a placement, what would be
your preferred option?
Level 5 Level 4
Base: 311
L4 Base:141
L5 Base:170
From Figure 8 it can be seen that the vast majority of students prefer to have support with
placements from semester two of L4 (both early and late), with 72% of L4 students and 59%
of L5 students preferring this period. Additionally, while only 9% of L4 students would like
support in semester one of L4, this goes up to 16% of L5 students, which may show that in
hindsight some L5 students believed they could have benefited from earlier support. As it
appears to be the majority of our sample population suggesting this timeline, it does not
appear that there is any course bias.
Figure 9 considers if students would prefer to do a placement abroad (international), in the
UK with either an SME or a large company, or within 20 miles of Sheffield. Although only
one option was meant to be chosen, some students chose multiple therefore the results
have been grouped. The results show that while the majority (53%) of L4 students prefer
9%
39%
33%
14%
5%
16%
27%
32%
17%
8%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Level 4 -
Semester 1
Level 4 -
Semester 2
(early)
Level 4 -
Semester 2 (just
before the
summer break)
Level 5 Not applicable
NO.OFRESPONSES
When would you like your placement support
to begin?
Level 4 Level 5
Base: 287
L4 Base: 134
L5 Base: 153
Figure 8
Figure 9

11
international, the majority of L5 students (34%) prefer large companies based in the UK, or
otherwise any UK based opportunity (21%). A reason for this could be that at L4, where the
placement search has not yet begun or feel particularly important or ‘real’, they like to
believe that they will work abroad. However, once they begin searching at L5 and learn
more, they may find they are not as interested in opportunities abroad as they originally
thought and so make more ‘realistic’ targets for themselves.
3.2 Level 4 Analysis
This shows that 91% of L4 students know (or think they know) what a placement is, while
9% may not know. It is therefore not an area to focus attention on.
The majority of students do wish to do a placement, with 10% unsure if they want to or not.
Further analysis could be conducted on whether this is course-specific, and how many of the
students that don’t know what a placement is still want to do one.
91%
7%
2%
Do you know what a placement is?
Yes Maybe No Base: 151
89%
1%
10%
Do you want to do a placement?
Yes No Unsure Base: 150
Figure 10
Figure 11

12
The majority of students (76%) have begun to consider multiple factors relating to gaining a
placement. Only 8% have not started to think about placements at all, and 15% have
thought about one aspect of their placement search.
Figure 13.1 shows the narrowed down responses participants gave in order to condense the
data (for full reasons and results see Appendix 5.3.1 – Supplementary Data). The results
above show that the majority of L4 students decided they wanted to do a placement to
‘gain work experience’, followed closely by their desire to ‘improve employability’. The top 4
factors that prompted them to want to do a placement are the last 4 displayed above (see
Appendix 5.3.1 – Supplementary Data for a closer graphical representation).
7%
1%
1%
6%
49%
27%
8%
0 20 40 60 80
How to enhance your CV content in advance of…
The type of company/industry you would like to work in
The type of role that you would like to do/not like to do
Where you want to do your placement (location)
I have thought about 2 or 3 of these
I have thought about all 4 of these
I haven't started to think about it
NO. OF RESPONSES
Have you started to think about...
Base: 142
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
To gain work experience
Improve skills / employability
Degree related
Opportunities abroad
Not sure
Not sure what I want to do after university yet
Great opportunity
Not doing a placement
Break from my studies to earn money
Opportunities for networking
Strongly advised to by tutors
What prompted you to decide whether or
not to do a placement?
Figure 12
Figure 13.1

13
The following series of graphs present the participant responses to the same question as
above, based on their answer to the question of whether they want to do a placement or
not (Figure 11).
The graph above shows only the participant responses for those that answered 'Yes' to "Do
you want to do a placement?".
It is clear that L4 students who do want to do a placement consider the most beneficial
reasons for doing a placement is to gain work experience and enhance employability skills,
as further shown below by some of the key quotes extracted from the responses received:
"…Get some real world understanding…"
"I have been told by others that it is highly useful and no one says to not do it"
"I want [to] have some work experiences and improve my English speak[ing] skill"
"To gain the experience of different sectors and different standards which are expected
from staff, and also to see how the environment may affect how the business runs."
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Degree related
Great opportunity
Not sure
What prompted you to decide to do a
placement?
Figure 13.2

14
The above graph shows responses specifically for the participants who answered ‘Unsure’ to
"Do you want to do a placement?".
As can be seen, the majority either left the question blank or thought that they did not want
to ‘waste time and money’ on an extra year of university.
One student mentioned: "As an international student, I do not want to waste time and
money to do a placement. Because university do not support us.”
Another student was unsure “Whether it would benefit me or not in the long run.”
From the single response of ‘No’ to the question “Do you want to do a placement”, the
participant’s reason was that they “Prefer part-time work.”
0 1 2 3 4 5
Blank
Don't want to waste time and money
Not sure
Degree related
What makes you unsure to decide whether or
not to do a placement?
Figure 13.3

15
What sort of job would you like to do on placement?
Tourism/Hospitality 36
Finance/Data analysis 23
Not sure 21
Marketing/Sales 14
Management 12
Teacher 7
Social Events 6
Business 6
Working abroad 5
Corporate 4
Human resources 4
Specific company 3
Rotational 3
Charity 2
Real job (not a runner/coffee monkey) 1
Large company 1
Taxi driver 1
Base: 136 students
Figure 14.2 below shows the above data graphically.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Tourism / hospitality
Finance / data
Not sure
Marketing / sales
Management
Teacher
Social events
Business
Corporate
Human Resources
Working abroad
Specific company
Rotational
Charity
Real Job (not a runner / coffee monkey)
International
Large company
Taxi driver
What sort of job would you like to do on
placement?
To the left is a list of the
collated responses given
with the number of
respondents mentioning
each career to the right of
the job in question. This is
clearly influenced by the
courses that respondents
were completing.
Figure 14.1
Figure 14.2

16
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Management / management assistant
Not sure
Finance / data
Corporate international firm
Business
HRM
Non-profit organisation
Operational role
Teacher
Cabin crew
Events
Hotel
Large company
Interesting
Publishing / media
Taxi driver
Sales
Work in a bank
Digital marketing
What sort of job would you like to do on placement?
BUSINESS
Above the graph shows the overall top five jobs L4 students wanted to do on placement.
Again, these results are influenced by the course each participant was on.
The following charts show the breakdown of type of job by course.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Tourism / hospitality
Finance / data
Not sure
Marketing / sales
Management
What sort of job would you like to do
on placement? (Top 5)
Figure 14.3
Figure 14.4

17
Figure 14.4 shows the breakdown for Business courses. The majority of Business students
are interested in having management or management assistant roles, with a high number of
them not being sure what they want to do yet.
Although not many responses were received from L4 Events students, it can be seen from
the above graph that there is more interest in corporate and conference events as well as
weddings.
(The'specific company'in LanguageswasTesol)
The majority of L4 Language students who answered the questionnaire would like jobs in
teaching or as a teaching assistant while on placement (aboard).
0 1 2 3 4
Conference / corporate
Weddings
Real job (not a runner / fetching coffee)
Not sure
Fashion
Charity
placement? EVENTS
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Teacher / TA
Tourism related
Hospitality
Specific company
Not sure
placement? LANGUAGES
Figure 14.5
Figure 14.6

18
(F & B rangesfromchef to kitchen worker to waitress;the 'specific company'is Disney)
Most of the L4 Hospitality students would like jobs in the Front Office department in a hotel,
or in F & B (Food & Beverage); however there are many different job roles mentioned,
which cannot be ignored, and indicates that Hospitality students have a good idea of the
type of roles that can do and a good idea of what they would like to do.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Hotel (Front Office)
F & B
General operational role
Not sure
HR
Marketing
Housekeeping
Management assistant
Small business
Specific company
Events
Airport
Rotational
Finance
Teacher
Resort
placement? HOSPITALITY
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Accounting & finance
Not sure
Forensic accounting
Banking
Audit
Book keeping
placement? FINANCE & ACCOUNTING
Figure 14.7
Figure 14.8

19
0 1 2 3 4 5
Marketing
Not sure
Advertising
PR
Large company
Marketing manager
Communication based marketing
placement? MARKETING
Figure 14.8 shows that most L4 Finance and Accounting students are quite general in what
they would like to do, and merely want a role related to their field of study rather than a
specific job role within accountancy or finance.
There is a similar type of response with L4 Marketing students, who have stated the job they
want is a general marketing role, although some did mention they were interested in
Advertising and PR (Public Relations).
There was only one response from L4 Tourism, which was to work for Disney on placement.
The breakdown by course makes it much clearer to see what sort of jobs L4 students want
to do on placement. There were many who were not sure of what they wanted to do, and
many are likely to change their minds once they begin applying for placements at L5.
However, this does give insight into what students at L4 would like to see by way of
placement opportunities.
Figure 14.9

The anxieties L4 students are facing when they begin their search for a placement is clear
with over 50% worried about their own competence and that they lack the skills that
employers are searching for. The second-most common worry is that they will not find one
or end up with one they do not want. This clearly highlights that the university needs to look
for ways to build the self-confidence of L4 students so they can apply without doubting their
own abilities, which may remove some of their reluctance to apply or attend interviews.
An interesting statistic is that only around 15% of students are worried about proximity
(having to move far from home), possibly because they have already experienced moving
away from their transition to university life so are more comfortable with this experience.
Lack of Confidence Consistent
Rejection
Proximity Competition Best Fit/Not
getting one
Competence
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
What worries you about FINDING a
placement?
Figure 15

21
This data correlates with Figure 15, suggesting that competence is a key worry for L4
students, as here they are worried they may not be able to adapt to the work environment.
Only 15% of students had no worries about going on placement.
41% of students are thinking about summer internships to support their placement seeking
by February of the academic year. 6% of students are considering a summer internship in
place of a year-long placement. 24% of students are not interested in looking for summer
internships and 30% selected “not yet” – suggesting that closer to the end of the academic
year this may change to either a yes or no.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Performance
Workload
Pay
Adapting/Fitting in
No worries
What worries you about DOING a
placement?
7%
16%
30%
6%
41%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
No - I don't want
one
No it doesn't
interest me as I
have a summer job
to return to
Not yet Yes - instead of a
placement
Yes - to help me
gain a placement
NO.OFRESPONSES
Have you started to think about summer
internships for this summer?
Base: 132
Figure 16
Figure 17

22
The previous results suggest that L4 need to increase their confidence, and experience from
a summer internship may help them to gain some of the required competencies and
confidence. A clear problem is that nearly 80% of students don’t know what opportunities
are available and need to be made aware of them; a similar approach to placements could
be adopted here.
As this question was one where students could select multiple options, each individual
option selected has been cumulated to see which method of support is most desired by
students. This is based on answers given by 126 students and totalled 254 responses.
The top 3 methods are: having direct contact with careers staff, having direct contact with
students who have been on placement and to be given information and direction through a
website. It is unclear if this is a new website, the careers website or the placement website.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Application Guidance
Nothing/ I don't want one
What opportunities are available
Past students experiences
Location of the internships
What help would you like when applying for a summer
internship?
9
33
62
82
64
4
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Blog
Paper Booklet
Website
Direct contact with careers staff
Direct contact with students who have been on placement
Not applicable
COLLATED RESPONSES
In what format would you like your support to be
offered?
Base: 126
Figure 18
Figure 19

23
The issue with this data is that the original question asked only for the top two preferences,
and while some students adhered to this, others did not and selected more than 2 options.
This could have skewed the results.
3.3 Level 5 Analysis
90% of L5 students want to do a placement, with 9% unsure. This is nearly exactly the
results gained from L4 students. Further analysis could be done in to differences between
international and home students and differences across courses to identify if there is a
certain group of students who are unsure.
What prompted you to decide whether or not to do a placement? If you are
undecided, what could help you make that decision?
I want to get experience (2 students said for money reason too) 70
Get ready for workplace 1
Preparation towards graduate job 18
I knew I wanted to do placement before coming to university 1
I was strongly advised (by family, previous students, Lecturers, seminar) 8
To improve my CV & Skills 10
Not applicable 2
For career prospects 20
I am still unsure 3
Salary 2
More employable in future 7
I like the opportunity placement brings 1
Location is important & I want to finish my degree 2
Time off university, I dislike it 1
Total (Base) 146
1%
9%
90%
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
No Unsure Yes
NO.OFRESPONSES
Do you want to do a
placement?
Base: 186 Figure 20
Figure 21.1

24
A total of 146 students provided responses to this question. Almost all of these students had
previous knowledge about what a placement is so they had some sort of idea about their
next step towards their career goals. Only 3 participants were unsure whether or not to do
placement year; they have not identified what could help them to make their decision.
Nearly half of the participants wanted to undertake a placement year for the purpose of
gaining experience within the industry.
The top 4 responses are detailed below:
I want to get experience (2 students said for money too) 70
Preparation towards graduate job 18
For career prospects 20
To improve my CV & Skills 10
Base: 118
Looking at the data gathered, we can conclude that the majority of students are willing to
find a placement for various reasons, such as they want to gain experience in their field of
study, or to prepare them for their future career job and/or to improve and gain new skills
which can be beneficial to them when looking for graduate scheme opportunities in the
future.
For further detailed analysis, see Appendix 5.3.2 – Supplementary Data.
Figure 21.2
I want to get
experience (2 students
saidfor moneytoo)
59%
Preparation towards
graduate job
15%
Forcareerprospects
17%
To improve myCV &
Skills
9%
Why you want to undertake a placement year? (L5)
I want to get experience (2 students said for money too)
Preparation towards graduate job
For career prospects
To improve my CV & SkillsFigure 21.3

25
Over half of L5 students (55%) had not started applying for placements by February of the
academic year. This result could be skewed as the sample of students used were gathered
from placement-related lectures, where it is highly unlikely to have included students who
had already secured a placement or students who were doing well with their applications
and did not feel they needed to attend. This makes it more likely that students might not
have started applying at all. Additionally, an option for beginning of Semester 2 has not
been included, which may lead students who had very recently started applying to choose
the option of “I haven’t started applying yet”. The second highest response of 33% was
students began applying during Semester 1 of Level 5, with only collectively 8% applying any
earlier than that.
As with Figure 22, 55% of students had not started applying yet and 3% did not plan on
applying. The above graph shows that, from those who are applying, the majority at 28%
1%
7%
33%
55%
3%
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
During my first year (level 4) studies
Over the summer
During semester 1 of Level 5
I haven't started yet - but I will do
I'm not looking for a placement
NO. OF RESPONSES
If you are applying for a placement, when did
you start applying?
Base: 175
14% 14%
8%
5%
1% 3%
55%
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Between 1
and 3
4 - 6 7 - 10 10 - 15 16 + I'm not
looking for a
placement
Not started
applying yet
NO.OFRESPONSES
How many applications have you made so
far?
Base: 175
Figure 22
Figure 23

26
have submitted between 1 and 6 applications by February, while 8% have made 7 to 10
applications and only 6% have made more than 10 applications.
What sort of a jobwould you like to do on Placement?
Marketing 39
Corporate Events Management 36
Anything/not sure 19
Management 16
Human Resources Management 12
Finance 10
Advertising 9
Business 7
Food Technology 7
Logistic & Supply Chain 6
Sports 3
Music Management 3
Sales 3
New Product Development 3
Retail 2
Start Own Business 2
Automotive 1
Dietician 1
Operation 1
Media 1
Total 181
The top 3 career segments that students would like to do in their placement year are
Marketing, Corporate Events Management and Management. The least favourable areas are
Media, Operation and Dietician with just 1 participant demand each. Just over 10%
participants had no idea what areas they wanted to work in and were willing to work in any
segment of a business, as long as they got some work experience.
Listed below are the top 5 choices presented in a table and graph:
Corporate Events Management 36
Marketing 39
Anything/not sure 19
Management 16
Human Resources Management 12
Base 122
Figure 24.1
Figure 24.2

27
Looking at the data, we can see that Corporate Events Management, Marketing and
Management are the top three highest demanded roles by students. Therefore, it is
important that SBS should try to arrange more placements for these areas of the business.
However, it is also worth noting that, again, this result is biased by the courses the sample
are on and may skew the results in favour of certain career choices.
This is narrowed down to 82 responses. The majority (26%) of the respondents were mostly
worried about not getting a placement and whether the chosen role will suit them,
considering the fact that it is a year-long commitment. 10% were worried about the
distance from home and location of the actual placement opportunity. To some of the
students, this was a huge concern as they would prefer to be closer to home rather than to
10
11
8
14
21
18
0
5
10
15
20
25
Lack of
Confidence
Consistent
Rejection
Proximity Competition Best Fit/Not
getting 1
Competence
What worries you about FINDING a
placement?
29%
32%
16%
13%
10%
Placement?
Corporate Events Management
Marketing
Anything/not sure
Management
Human Resources Management
Figure 24.3
Figure 25 Base: 82

28
worry about accommodation/expenses in a new city. The second-most common worry was
competence and this includes the level of skills that individuals believe they have to offer.
22% of the respondents worried that they lacked the skills or experience skills to be
considered for a placement and most of them who mentioned competence were worried
about the level of competition for placements. Other worries included being rejected
constantly and lacking in confidence. This result ties in with previous results suggesting
placement-seeking students lack self-confidence.
55% of participants reportedly had no worries about doing a placement. However, 17% of
the respondents worry about how well they would perform in their role. This can be linked
to the competence and lack of confidence as supported by Figure 25. 13% and 10% of the
respondents raised concerns about pay and workload respectively. Those who were
concerned about pay stated the fact that moving to a new city far away from home and
having to pay rent as well as other expenses made them worry about whether they would
be able to cover all expenses. Some students raised concerns about fitting into the work
place, being the youngest and whether they would be able to make friends.
17%
10%
13%
5%
55%
What worries you about DOING a
placement?
Performance
Workload
Pay
Adapting/Fitting in
No worries
Figure 26

29
Due to the fact that the student sample has been taken from placement-related lectures, it
is not surprising that only 1% have secured a placement. Although 12% are optimistic about
securing one from current ongoing applications, 88% have not yet secured one at all (with
44% of these being those who have not started applying yet). This result would be more
useful if the student sample was from an ordinary scheduled lecture rather than a
placement lecture.
The original question has two split options of “It’s been OK” and “Yes – satisfactory” rather
than “OK/Satisfactory”. However, these have been combined as students could take them
to mean the same thing and select them interchangeably.
This chart highlights that 50% of students are content (satisfied) with the support they have
received while 19% are very happy with the support received. Further analysis on
differences by course is in the table on the following page (Figure 28.2).
1%
12%
49%
38%
Have you secured a placement yet?
Yes - all approved by university
Maybe - I'm in the middle of a selection process
Not yet
No because I've not been applying
Base: 156
25%
6%
50%
19%
Do you feel you have had enough support from the
Business School? (if you haven't secured a placement?)
I haven't asked for any support
Inadequate
OK/Satisfactory
Yes - above and beyond
Base: 155
Figure 27
Figure 28.1

30
Response Business Events Food Marketing Total
Not asked 30% 10% 0% 63% 25%
Inadequate 6% 5% 8% 6% 6%
OK 45% 60% 77% 31% 50%
Above & beyond 19% 25% 15% 0% 18%
This table excludes the single contributions by the Student Executive team. This shows that
more Events students believe they are getting great support compared to other courses; on
the other hand Food ranks as the best in terms of overall satisfaction with a combined
percentage of 92% believing they are getting satisfactory or better support, while only 85%
of Events feel the same. However, the sample size for Food is significantly smaller and
therefore much less representative of the course as a whole. Marketing have the highest
percentage of students who have not asked for support, and, of the students who have,
have the highest unsatisfied rate, with 16% of participants unhappy with the support
received compared to the average across all courses of 8%.
As with the L4 equivalent of this graph, the individual responses of each student have been
cumulated separately to see what the most preferred method of all selected methods is.
The top 4 are: direct contact with careers staff, direct contact with students who have been
on placement, direct contact with an academic on their course, and the website. This
implies students highly value face to face interaction with those they believe to have the
knowledge they require, rather than reading blogs or brochures or anything they see on
social media.
As with many SBS course, usually an employability/careers module also forms part of the
course content, ran by an experienced academic. Students may value one-to-one
interactions and catch-ups with this academic rather than (or alongside with) broader class
sessions for support from someone they are familiar with.
This research could be supported by feedback received across SBS courses for these
employability modules at Level 5.
101
88
73
68
27
24
13
5
Direct contact with careers staff
Direct contact with students who have been on placement
Direct contact with an academic on your course
Website
Paper Booklet
Social Media - eg Facebook/Twitter
Blog
Not applicable
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
COLLATED RESPONSES
In what format would you like your support to be
offered?
Base: 150
Figure 28.2
Figure 29

31
4.0 Recommendations
From the primary research conducted by the Student Executive group, the following
recommendations and conclusions can be drawn:
4.1 Preparation for Level 4 Students
 Level 4 students should be given more support across all courses with their CVs, cover
letters and LinkedIn accounts
 Level 4 students are often unwilling to undertake extracurricular activities so as not to
compromise their social life, perhaps the benefits of these activities needs to be more
widely advertised, especially at the beginning of semester two when Level 4 students
might feel more engaged with these activities due to increased confidence
 There needs to be more involvement with the Placement Rep. programme talking to
students, especially at Level 4 as this is the majority of participants’ preferred time and
method of placement communication
o Students wanted reassurance and to hear from previous placement students how
they adapted and what inductions/support companies gave to them
 The findings highlighted a need to generate a portal that allows Level 4’s to see the
available opportunities and deadlines for summer internships
o Application guidance was also mentioned, suggesting that the careers centre needs
more intervention within the first year of university
 Encouraging students to take on internships during summer holidays between their first
and second year
o This would be a good time for Level 4’s to gain valuable experience and build on
skill sets in readiness for placement application, which would also give them the
self-confidence they need
o The University does an excellent job at posting available opportunities under the
Course Community Forum UG; however it would be in the best interest of students
if more emphasis was put on securing internships, similar to placements, therefore
an Internship Portal could be created to aid this
 More readily available information on different recruitment processes so Level 4
students can be prepared when the situation arises

32
 Many Level 5 respondents stated that they would have liked information on placements
in Level 4, therefore it would be a good idea to address student’s worries at an early
stage at level 4 possibly in induction weeks
o Getting Placement Rep. involvement early on, perhaps partnering and mentoring
with one Placement Rep. to each seminar group as a contact point
 Level 4 students who do want to engage with the placement seeking process early do
not know how to find the information, therefore it may be important to show them
where the placement information is during a seminar
o For example, the excel document with the contact details of Placement Reps. who
have volunteered to help
4.2 Preparation for Level 5 Students
 It may be useful to ask Level 5 students if, in hindsight, they would have liked to have
done a summer internship, or if they would have liked to receive further support
around summer internships in their first year
 A short survey could be beneficial on returning to university as a level 5 student to see
what they have done over the summer months
 From the findings it is clear to see that the students would like the information provided
to Level 5’s to be through contact with the Placement Reps.
4.3 Recommendations for Further Research
 It would be beneficial to conduct follow up research on another sample of students
from both levels from all of the courses at the Sheffield Business School that do a
placement
o If conducting this research in lectures as the researchers have done for this piece, it
is recommended that ‘ordinary’ lectures are used rather than placement lectures as
students who have already secured a placement, or who are not doing a
placement, are unlikely to attend these
 This research could then be used to compare levels of work experience between the
two years, as something to note is that on the question ‘What work experience do you
have’ there was no option for none, which may have influenced the results
 Looking at the data (although slightly skewed as a result of the sample), we can see that
Corporate Events Management, Marketing and Management are the top three
placement opportunities in highest demand by students

33
o Therefore, it is important to find more placements for these areas of the businesses
 When placement fairs have been arranged, it is important that students of both levels,
but especially Level 5, engage with them
o A way to do this could be through text reminds to encourage attendance
o Another way could be getting students to get involved by providing them with the
right knowledge
o For example, providing information on how to approach employers, what sort of
questions should students ask, and what sort of preparation should students
undertake
 It is advised that liaising with the Placement Support Team may provide more
information on statistics of those students who chose to do a placement etc.
 It may be beneficial to investigate how much, and what areas of the Careers and
Employability Centre is used by students during their placement seeking activities, and
use the findings to provide more information to students if required
 It could also be useful to investigate the views of students currently on placement
o What made a difference for them?
o Are they getting the resources and help they need while away from SBS and SHU?
o Are they aware of any resources, and do they use them?

34
5.0 Appendices
5.1 L4 Questionnaire

41
5.3 Supplementary Data
5.3.1 What prompted you to decide whether or not to do a placement (L4)?
The following graph is the complete set of responses received to the above question, in line
with Figure 13.1 on page 12 of the main report.
The graph below represents the top 4 choices, in line with Figure 13.1 on page 12.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Improve employability
Part of my degree
Improve skills
Beneficial to my degree
Improve language skills
Not sure
Great opportunity
Not doing a placement
Improve knowledge
Building confidence
"It's just logical"
What prompted you to decide whether or not
to do a placement? (All answers)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Improve employability
Part of my degree
What prompted you to decide whether
or not to do a placement? (Top 4)
Base: 136
Base: 136

42
5.3.2 What prompted you to decide whether or not to do a placement? (L5)
The below is a further breakdown of the responses received as outlined in Figure on page 24
of the main report.
(Part 1 of 2 – shows the middle 5 reasons for undertaking a placement)
Location is important & I want to finish my degree 2
I was strongly advised (by family, previous students, Lecturers, seminar) 8
I am still unsure 3
Salary 2
More employable in future 7
Base 22
(Part 2 of 2 – shows the bottom 5 reasons for undertaking a placement)
Location
is
importa
nt & I
want to
finish
my
degree
9%
I was strongly
advised(byfamily,
previoustudents,
Lecturers, seminar)
36%
I am still unsure
14%
Salary
9%
More
employable in
future
32%
Why you want to undertake a placement
year? (L5)
Location is important & I want to finish my degree
I was strongly advised (by family, previou students, Lecturers, seminar)
I am still unsure
Salary
More employable in future
Get ready for workplace 1
Not applicable 2
I like the opportunity placement brings 1
Time off university, I dislike it 1
I knew I wanted to do placement before coming to university 1
Base 6

43
Get readyfor
workplace
16%
Not applicable
33%I like the opportunity
placement brings
17%
Time off university, I
dislike it
17%
I knew I wantedto do
placement before
coming to university
17%
Why you want to undertake a placement year?
(L5)
Get ready for workplace
Not applicable
I like the opportunity placement brings
Time off university, I dislike it

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