{"id":3029,"date":"2026-01-28T09:03:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T09:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/?p=3029"},"modified":"2026-01-15T12:25:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T12:25:30","slug":"from-placement-to-graduate-role-what-i-learned-along-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/2026\/01\/28\/from-placement-to-graduate-role-what-i-learned-along-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"From placement to graduate role: What I learned along the way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi, I\u2019m Logan Wright<\/a>, a fourth-year Management student at the University of Bath. Like many students, I went into the placement application process without a clear idea of what role I wanted to pursue. What I didn\u2019t expect was that my placement itself would help me discover this. In this blog, I share how my placement experience developed my skills, clarified my career goals, and ultimately led to securing a graduate role at a leading firm.<\/p>\n

The application process<\/h3>\n

I chose to come to the University of Bath because of its strong placement programme, and from the start of my degree I knew that completing a 12-month placement in my third year was something I wanted to do. However, when it came to applying, I didn\u2019t have a clear idea of which role or industry I wanted to work in. As a result, I applied across a wide range of roles and industries, hoping that one would be the right fit.<\/p>\n

I reached final stages on several occasions, but as rejections began to pile up, it became increasingly difficult not to feel disheartened. As deadlines passed and others around me secured offers, I started to lose confidence. Eventually, at the end of May, I received an offer for a sales operations placement starting in August. It wasn\u2019t an easy journey, but it turned out to be one of the most important moments of my university life so far.<\/p>\n

The placement<\/h3>\n

Starting my placement with only a short amount of time to prepare was daunting. I was still unsure whether I had chosen the right type of role and whether it aligned with what I might want to do after graduating. However, joining a fast-paced team meant I had to adapt quickly, take responsibility for my own learning, and make the most of the opportunity in front of me.<\/p>\n

One of the most important skills I developed during my placement was proactivity. Early on, I realised that simply completing the tasks assigned to me wouldn\u2019t help me gain clarity about my future career. Instead, I made a conscious effort to speak to colleagues across the business, understand the wider organisation, and seek opportunities to work with different teams. By doing this, I was able to get involved in projects outside my immediate responsibilities and gain exposure to a variety of business functions and working styles.<\/p>\n

Through this, I realised I was most engaged when working in roles that involved interacting with others, understanding their needs, and working towards clear goals. I found myself enjoying face-to-face engagement with customers and being motivated by commercial targets, where performance, communication, and relationship-building were central to success. This realisation didn\u2019t happen overnight, but developed gradually over the course of my placement as I reflected on which aspects of the role I found most rewarding.<\/p>\n

Communication was another key area of growth. Through both my core role and working with other parts of the business, I regularly interacted with stakeholders from different teams as well as external customers. Learning how to communicate clearly, confidently, and professionally - particularly in meetings and over email - was a steep learning curve. Over time, I became far more comfortable engaging with key stakeholders and actively seeking feedback, which helped me build stronger working relationships and improve the quality of my work.<\/p>\n

At the end of my placement, I was nominated for a Bath Management Placement Award for going above and beyond. This recognition reflected the effort I had put into being proactive and taking ownership of my development. More importantly, it reinforced the idea that actively engaging with opportunities and stepping outside your comfort zone can have a real impact, regardless of how confident you feel at the start.<\/p>\n

The graduate role<\/h3>\n

Returning to university for my final year, I felt significantly more confident and focused about my career direction. Having identified that I wanted to work in a customer-facing role with clear commercial targets, I was able to approach graduate applications in a far more focused way, rather than applying broadly. I targeted roles that aligned closely with the skills and interests I had developed during my placement, tailoring my CV and cover letters accordingly.<\/p>\n

In November, just six weeks after returning to university, a recruiter reached out to me impressed with my placement experience and invited me to interview for a role. During the interview process and then the assessment centre, many of the competencies being assessed, such as communication, problem-solving, and commercial awareness, were skills I could directly link back to my placement experience. Being able to draw on real professional examples, rather than hypothetical situations, made the process feel far more natural and confident. Shortly after I received a graduate offer to work as Client Services Associate.<\/p>\n

My tips<\/h3>\n

For students who are still searching for placements or unsure about what they want to pursue, my main advice would be not to worry if you don\u2019t have everything figured out straight away. A placement doesn\u2019t require you to arrive with a clear career plan, instead it can help you build one.<\/p>\n

While on placement, be as proactive as possible. Speak to people in different teams, ask questions, and get involved wherever you can. A five-minute conversation can be enough to shift your perspective and help you realise exactly where you want your career to go.<\/p>\n

Share your placement experience on LinkedIn every four to six months. Reflecting publicly on what you\u2019ve learned helps consolidate your development and acts as a personal showcase of your skills and progress. You never know who might see it, just one recruiter or connection viewing your profile could start a conversation that leads to a future opportunity.<\/p>\n

Looking back, the placement I almost didn\u2019t get shaped my employability and changed my career direction. It didn\u2019t just strengthen my CV but helped me understand the type of professional I want to be, and that has made all the difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi, I\u2019m Logan Wright, a fourth-year Management student at the University of Bath. Like many students, I went into the placement application process without a clear idea of what role I wanted to pursue. What I didn\u2019t expect was that...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1962,"featured_media":3030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[753],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-placements"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/82\/2026\/01\/Logan-Wright.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1962"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}