Over 90 students attended the first SEMS Placements and Internships Bootcamp on Tues 10 & Wed 11 September at the Mile End campus.

Organised by Placement Officer Helen Green, the two-day in-person bootcamp aimed to give our students a head start on applying for competitive placement and internship recruitment processes.

With many placement, internship and graduate schemes opening in September - particularly from the larger employers - training students before term starts has proven a popular time to encourage students to focus on their job search.

The bootcamp included sessions from the major online platforms for opportunities, Rate My Placement and Gradcracker, as well as assessment centre practice with Career Consultant Pash Selopal and Rachel Jeans, Early Careers Recruitment lead at AWE.

Employability Advisor Abu Bakr Kalam delivered a practical session on how to use AI for effective applications, whilst Philip Wilson (Head of Systems Engineering) and Mohammad Saim Khan (Mechanical Engineer Graduate) from BAE Systems covered standing out at interview.

Over 90% of the students surveyed agreed that the Bootcamp had increased their confidence applying for placements and internships.

“The Gradcracker session introduced me to a wider range of opportunities for placements and grad schemes. AWE’s session on the application process was extremely helpful, as it gave me a clear understanding of how group interviews are conducted and the application process. BAE Systems' talk was highly engaging as it provided valuable insights that helped me prepare for potential interview questions during the application process alongside finding out more about systems engineering in general” said Jarifa Tasnim Shah, Third year student in BEng Aerospace Engineering

Prof Oliver Fenwick, Director for Industrial Engagement said “It’s great to see such enthusiasm from our students to gain industrial experience, and it was fantastic opportunity for them to hear directly from employers about how to make the most of internship opportunities. Events such as this are important for preparing our students for careers as engineers.”