How PF Meet Helped Me Get a Placement
August 12th, 2013
Written by: Robb Lewis
Getting an industrial placement can be hard, but PF Meet made that process a lot easier.
Finding a placement
Like a lot of people, as part of my course at University of Portsmouth I got the chance to a take a year out to do a work placement.
“Chance” being the operative word.
Yes, the University does have a directory of companies offering placements, but the majority of these are general IT-related roles. Being a Web Technologies student, I wanted a web developer position.
By my count, there were two companies advertising a grand total of three development positions, and 11 Web Technologies students that wanted a placement, so in November I applied to both companies, Debenhams and Radweb.
The pickin’s were slim…
Not only were there 11 people that wanted a placement, but a web-specific placement. And that number doesn’t include the non-web computing students. And the University listed three.
The likeliness is there would be little difference between each person’s CV. Everyone’s doing the same course, learning the same things, doing the same projects.
Yes, I’ve got a GitHub profile and a portfolio site, but so has everyone else.
Meeting Radweb at PFMeet
In December at the 2012 PF Meet Christmas Party I met Dan who did his placement at Radweb the previous year, and was still working there part time.
Then the following month at PF Meet, I met Ed and Ali who were both on their placement there. A couple of weeks later I got an email from Steve, the Director of Radweb, asking me to come in for an interview.
So…
Skip forward to now and, spoiler alert, I got the job! You might be thinking this is all just coincidence but since starting my placement I’ve found out that shortly after he met me at PF Meet, Dan told Steve I should definitely get an interview.
Ed and Ali both put in a good word. If it wasn’t for the opportunities PF Meet creates to meet so many different people I might not have got a placement at all.
By having the chance to meet people I would potentially be working with, I was able to show my enthusiasm for the web, allow them to see the kind of person I am and for them to get an idea whether if I would be a good fit within the team.
Without PF Meet, I would have just been another student with a CV and a GitHub profile.
Have you had a good experience?
Let us know whether you found work, made friends or simply had a great experience at PF Meet. Write to us at hello@pfmeet.co.uk and you could get a free Geek/Drink Mashup T-shirt.
Really pleased to read about this Robb, especially as I remember you telling me how much you wanted to work there.
Thanks Jo!