I am now in my fourth year of BA Geography with Professional Placement having just completed a professional placement. For 13 months, I was part of the Surveys Team at NHS England, using data analysis to assist in the publication of the GP Patient Survey (GPPS), Staff Survey, Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) and the 16 Cancer Patient Experience Survey (U16CPES).  

Skills

Having done various Human Geography modules up until the beginning of my placement, I was quite nervous going into a job that was going to be quite rooted in numbers. Because of this, I learnt new skills on daily basis! I have compiled a list of skills specific to my role, as well as soft skills that most placement students will acquire by virtue of working full time for a year: 

Role specific skills: 

• SPSS
• The process of QA: checking data and presentation to a level required for an NHS England published survey
• R: not as much writing the code, but understanding others’ code, and how the quirks of each survey may impact any generic code
• Excel: whilst I had obviously used Excel throughout my education, using it to deal with such large datasets was definitely new and required me to try pivot tables and shortcuts for the first time

Softer skills:

• How to write an Email/Teams message to someone in your team, and more formal emails to senior team members and those outside your organisation 
• Communicating when you need help and knowing when it is appropriate to reach out/keep trying yourself
• Working as part of a team: prior to this, most of my work was independent (at uni or at school) and so navigating team work towards a shared goal (survey publication) was a new experience

How Placement has helped me going back to Uni

In some ways it has definitely been a readjustment going back to uni. For one thing, not getting paid leave anymore is quite sad! The other big change has been the switch from a 9-5 structure back to a more self-imposed timetable. 9-5, at least in my role, meant free evenings and weekends, which allowed for a better work/life balance. Being able to work/not work at any time in uni is a big change, but I have been trying to carry the 9-5 through into fourth year to try and be both productive and have time off to do things I enjoy. 

Placement has also helped me when thinking about future employment. I now understand how application process works for large organisations. Hopefully I now have a CV with more experience on it than at the start of the placement year! I would also say exposure to the different types of job a Geography Grad could go into, has helped in both informing my decisions on what I want to apply for, as well as the aspects of a job I may look to avoid. 

Advice for prospective Placement Students 

• Use excel sheet to help track where you have applied for and deadlines. You will probably apply to a lot of placement programmes, so organisation is key 
• Consider doing a placement outside of your comfort zone. My placement was maths based, and definitely outside of mine. The training and support built in to established placement programmes mean they can be a great place to push yourself. Even if it doesn’t end up being a career path for you, it is only one year and can equip you with great skills for whatever direction you do decide to go down 
• Picking a placement that relates to your dissertation/area of interest is great, but placements are beneficial regardless. They give you a chance to earn money, learn new skills, and give you extra time to prep for your dissertation; for example, you could spend some of the extra time on weekends getting ahead on your fieldwork to help yourself in the final year. 

Written by Sophie, current BA Geography with Placement student at The University of Manchester

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