Internships
Information on experiences Geography students have had with various internships.
Name: Emily Reid
Course: BSc Physical Geography with Geology.
Year: 3
Title of position held: International Student Sustainability Research Journal Assistant
Where did you undertake your placement? Southampton Student’s Union
Did the expertise gained from a Geography degree help with the placement? If so, how?
The in- depth knowledge of sustainability, particularly its inter-disciplinary nature, that I gained from undertaking a Geography Degree helped me when marketing the event. Knowledge of how sustainable action can come from anywhere including politics, the arts, earth sciences and many others especially made a difference when trying to engage with students from a variety of different degree backgrounds.
Has having a placement benefited your future employability?
This placement gave me direct experience of organising and marketing a large and prestigious event. The time-management, communication and marketing skills I gained from this placement has made me a far more confident speaker, not only to my fellow peers and academics, but also to wider communities and different audiences.
Name: Miles Bannister
Course: BA Geography with Spanish
Year: Currently on Year In Employment
Title of position held: Business Development Consultant
Where did you undertake your placement?
IBM
How did you hear about the placement opportunity?
University friends in older years.
Did the expertise gained from a Geography degree help with the placement? If so, how?
Yes, it meant that I could highlight my ability to work alone and organise myself. The high proportion of individual study that a Geography degree entails was attractive to employers as it demonstrated intuition and a high level of self-dependence.
How has having a placement benefited your future employability?
have been exposed to business operations within a large international company. Exposure to this has better positioned me to know what I want to do when I graduate from Southampton. It has also been exciting working full time, Monday – Friday, 9-5 whilst having the comfort of knowing this if I dislike the position I am not on a permanent contract and that I know for the future to avoid similar positions. Additionally, having a years’ worth of full-time employment with a company like IBM will help differentiate myself from the hundreds of other students graduating with the same degree.
Name: Matt Evans
Course: BA Geography
Year: 3
Title of position held: Geography Ambassador
Where did you undertake your placement?
University of Southampton
How did you hear about the placement opportunity?
Job posting on the Geography Employability blackboard page.
Did the expertise gained from a Geography degree help with the placement? If so, how?
Of course! The wide selection of skills obtained from a geography degree equipped me with the knowledge and expertise to complete the range of task this internship required. This involved assessing the usefulness of documents utilising both the organisational and analytical skills, compose coherent reports increasing my written communication and self-management to ensure all tasks were completed.
How has having a placement benefited your future employability?
Aside from providing something valuable and impressive to add to my CV it has provided many transferable skills which would be of value to potential employers. It is becoming increasingly competitive to seek employment once graduated, therefore, is important to distinguish yourself and by undertaking a placement has certainly helped. In fact, mentioning my internship experiences helped me in securing a graduate job.
Name: Arran Little
Course: BA Human Geography with a Minor in Politics
Year: 2
Position held: Videographer
Where did you undertake your placements?University of Southampton Writing Centre, Society of James and Youth Families Matter
Did the expertise gained from a Geography degree help with the placement? If so, how?
Being a single independent video content creator requires the utilization of skills outside of the creative realm. Time keeping, keeping open channels and a willingness to accept new ideas were endorsed by my Geography degree.
Being a Geography student where a large amount of work is from varied areas, alongside my minor allowed me to develop my skills in managing work in a stressful situation
How has having a placement benefitted your future employability?
The placement provided me the grounds to produce a portfolio into the creative industries, something that is challenging to undertake. My experience in team-work and time-management have increased dramatically allowing myself to undertake more challenging tasks.
Name: Przemek Zientala
Course: BSc Geography
Year:3
Title of position held: Data Mining intern
Where did you undertake your placement?
I did my internship at the IT Innovation Centre which is located in the University of Southampton Science Park
Did the expertise gained from a Geography degree help with the placement? If so, how?
Although my internship focused on data mining, my Geography skills actually made a huge difference! Perhaps the most beneficial skills I gained from my degree was independent research, which I had to do on a daily basis during my internship. Moreover, the presentation and report-writing skills came in really handy since I had to meet with my supervisor regularly and update him on my progress and any issues I encountered, together with providing him with statistical and methodological reports.
How has having a placement benefitted your future employability?
The placement has helped me secure an offer for MSc in Data Science here at Southampton and clarified my career plans. While working there, I gained lots of technical and, more importantly, social skills. Not only did it considerably help me in applying for internships this year but also gave me confidence to run our own startup with two of my friends – FuseMind.
Year in employment
The Year in Employment (YIE) is an opportunity to complete a work placement between your second and third year of study as part of your degree. This placement year is assessed and successful students will graduate with the Year in Employment recognised on their degree transcript. Opportunities to undertake YIE include Office for National Statistics and IBM.
Completing a placement as part of the Year in Employment can bring benefits including:
Valuable experience to demonstrate to future employers
Personal development to enhance your employability
Confirmation on your suitability for your career path