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How to employ our students for a placement

Find out how to employ a placement student from Bath in five easy steps.

A placement student and employer
Our placements teams will work with you and our students to match the right candidate to the right company

Step 1. Advertise your vacancy

Advertising vacancies is free of charge and easy. Simply contact the relevant faculty placements team with:

  • a full job description including details of the nature of the work and skills required
  • a description of your business
  • the number of positions available
  • what level of supervision and support you will provide
  • how you would like students to apply
  • salary details

We will check this against our learning outcome framework before we approve the position. Once approved, we will advertise the vacancy to the appropriate students. We can direct students to your own application process or collate and send applications to you.

When to advertise your vacancy

Placements normally start between June and September.

The best time to advertise your vacancy is during the University semester, when students are more likely to be on campus. You should avoid recruiting in January and May when students have exams.

Step 2. Interview

Telephone or Skype interviews are useful for a first screening of students.

Where possible, we recommend carrying out face-to-face interviews at your organisation. This will give students the opportunity to see the business, experience the work environment and meet staff. You should budget to reimburse their travel costs if doing this.

If you prefer, we can arrange interviews on campus for you.

Step 3. Make a job offer

You should make your application process as quick as possible and keep candidates informed of their progress.

Once you've made a student a job offer and it's been accepted, you’ll need to agree a start date and send them a contract of employment. We ask that our students are fully contracted employees for their placement.

Students may also need to find a place to live. Any advice you can give on good local letting agencies, or contact with other students and graduates at your organisation will help.

Step 4: Prepare for the start of the placement

Before a student starts working at your organisation, you will need to:

  • plan their induction, training and work programme
  • nominate a supervisor for day-to-day management
  • appoint a mentor or buddy - this should ideally be someone approachable or a recent graduate

Find out more about what we expect from your organisation.

We brief all of our students before they start their placement, to make sure they stick to the University’s code of conduct.

Step 5. Support students during and after their placement

A Placement Officer or Tutor will stay in touch with you and the student throughout the placement. They’ll also arrange visits to make sure everything is progressing well. If the placement is overseas, we will get in contact by Skype or email.

Find out more about the support we will provide.

After the placement, you could keep in contact with students by offering vacation work, projects for the University, sponsorship or graduate jobs.

Get in contact

To talk to us about employing our students or to start the recruitment process, please email the relevant faculty placements team:

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