Top Tips to make the transition of student to professional easy

Having been a student for four years prior to my work placement I found that I had a deep rooted student mentality. Whilst this is not necessarily a bad thing it is perhaps not the best way to fit into to a corporate environment.


So thought I would put some tips together for those of you who are looking into placements for the coming year:

1. Dress code - Make sure you find out what kind of a dress code the office is that you are going into. It looks more professional to be dressed to smart than slightly scruffy

2. Take notes whenever possible - Always keep a pad and paper in hand, it not only helps you to understand and looks like your paying attention (even when you aren't sure what they are talking about) but will pay dividends when needing to look back over what you have done for those reflective essays!


3. Get feedback - This is vital for your development during your placement. Although it is a daunting prospect it is so very important. It not only helps you get recognition for all of the things you are doing right but also will give you the chance to chat about your weaker areas, and how to improve them. The best way of doing this is to set up a series of development meetings with your managers, outline points that you wish to develop and give them the opportunity to give you some of their own. This will help you to work towards specific aims thus helping you to get the most out of your placement

4. Don't email/interact with those above you in the same way you do your friends - This is a common mistake, and one that I have made several times. The most comical being when I gave an enthusiastic shake of my fist in a one to one with the comms director...this later resulted in my manager asking me why I shook my my fist at the director...So word of warning, body language is an important thing to gauge!


5. Try to get involved in meetings - Any contribution is better than no contribution. Even though at times it is frightening that you may say the wrong thing, it shows you are interested and paying attention, employers love it

6. If you have to stay late as you have a bit of work you could do with finishing - Do it. Don't think “oh I’ll come in early to do it”. Just stay that little bit longer and get it done. Even if you think that no one has noticed, karma ensures that it pays off in the end...believe me


7. Ask questions - Yes its annoying, yes you don't want to seem like you don't understand but how are you ever meant to know if you don't ask?


8. Don't spend all day emailing your friends - Regular checks are carried out by large companies to check that you are not wasting precious working hours being an email socialite. No matter how you delete your emails they can always be found again

9. Check, recheck and check your work again - It may seem obvious but it is so easy to miss a comma here, skip a word there. If it makes it easier, close the work down and come back to it a bit later, it saves a lot of embarrassment when your managers check your work and point out some extremely obvious mistakes


10. Always offer to help - If there is a small task up for grabs offer to do it, it shows that you are keen and eager to help. It gives employers a sense of reliability in you, which is not a bad thing in the slightest


11. And last but by no means least, do not moan about your job via social media sites - The internet is a dangerous place, once something is uploaded it never disappears. We have all heard stories of people being sacked due to their facebook status, it happens, just don't let it happen to you




So there we go a quick top tip guide to making the transition of student to professional, it's not easy but play the game, stick to the tips and you will not go far wrong.