Struggling on your placement year? Don't panic!

A student going on placement is putting a great deal of trust in the organisation providing the work experience.

Students know that placements matter. Get the right match and you'll be challenged, stretched and developed in a way that lectures and assignments cannot do. Sign up for one where the managers don't take much interest, and it can feel as if you've drawn the short straw.

Given that universities now work closely with companies and organisations to ensure the right fit with student applicants, it's rare for placements to go completely belly up. But if you're struggling, there are things you can do. There are ways students can address a situation in which they feel they're not flourishing.

Felicity Robinson, placement development adviser at Bournemouth University, says: "The first thing to get across to students is that they are in charge of their own development," she says.

"Busy managers don't sit down on a Monday and say 'how can we develop this student this week?' Training, mentoring and development on a plate will not be there in most circumstances."

"I'd advise students to do their own objective setting, so they're not saying 'help, give me something to do,' but being more collaborative in the process," she says.

"Diarise a meeting with your manager and come at things from a positive angle: you want to be saying 'I'm hoping to be able to achieve this'."

Richard Bailey, senior lecturer in public relations at Leeds Metropolitan University, visits students on placements. He says: "If, six months in, students are having a really tough time I think 'this is great, it's the only time in your life when you can make mistakes.' So take risks, because you can afford to."

Many students do need considerable support and encouragement to make the best of their placement, so don't worry if you feel like you do. Managers can forget that 19 and 20-year-olds can be really daunted by 40- to-50-year-olds.

Nobody is expecting perfection, and employers will understand that a student starting a placement is likely to feel nervous and out of their depth. But initiative and enthusiasm is greatly prized by employers.

Remember that a work placement is a chance for you to see if the industry is the right workplace for you. Use your placement as an opportunity to see if you enjoy a particular aspect of the industry you're hoping to enter, suggests Samantha Summers, 23, who graduated from the University of Gloucestershire last year.

"I didn't find coursework and assignments that relevant, whereas my placement year gave me real hands on experience – I'd never done marketing before and wasn't sure if I'd like it or not," she says.

If you're not enjoying your placement, then it doesn't have to be a waste of time. Maybe you've learned that you want a different career or workplace.

Summers says: "Some of my friends went on placements they thought they'd love, only to discover it wasn't a career choice for them after all. The uni experience [of studying a subject] is very different to the real life working environment."

If a student finds that it's just not working out no matter how hard they try, and rings her in complete despond, would Robinson still advise them to stick it out?

"Absolutely," she says. "People can feel that if they're not enjoying something they're not learning anything. But the placement year is a coat peg to hang your learning on, it's not about getting your perfect job. Even if it's a fairly poor placement experience, you don't just learn by doing, you learn by watching.

"Observe how the company is managed, and look around and question and analyse what you see so you can learn from it in future situations."

What the experts say

• Don't stress about finding the right placement. Remember that the employer has the bulk of the responsibility for hiring a student who's right, says Bailey. After all, they know their company and the job better than an undergraduate who may be having to research and apply for several placements while doing their academic work at the same time.

• Large companies tend to have clearly defined job descriptions for students on placement and well-structured support in place. Smaller organisations may be a riskier bet, but if you're lucky, the rewards can be huge.

• Robinson's best tip is to always to have a notebook and write everything down that you're asked to do. "Students are strangely resistant to it," she says. "Maybe they think it makes them look stupid. It doesn't. Ask lots of questions, and if you're not clear, ask again."

• Get stuck in, don't be paralysed by shyness, or embarrassed by mistakes - but do learn from them – and always show willing.

• Ask questions. "I learned very quickly that if you didn't ask, you didn't get," says Vanessa Horne, 22, studying business management at the University of Birmingham. Her advice is: "Ask for opportunities, shadow senior members of management, get involved in organising company events to get your name out in the network, work hard, ask for greater responsibility and then prove you can handle it."

• Remember that it will all be valuable experience for your cv. Paul Noonan did a placement at a tiny outfit in the summer of 2011. He was almost immediately plunged into writing white papers, creating industry award entries, developing and delivering a pitch that won the British Library as a client and working with national print and broadcast journalists - all while he was still a student.

It might have been hair-raising at the time, but Noonan says that as well as graduating with a first, it also meant "that rather than leaving university as a wide-eyed student with purely abstract knowledge...and no real-world experience, I left with industry knowledge, practical skills and a portfolio of evidence to prove it."

(Source: TheGuardian)