We are a team of three working on Placements in the GO Wales office at Cardiff University (me- Nikki Bennett- Placement Manager, Joanne Jenkins- Placement Manager and Mike Crippin- Placement Administrator) and we are busier than ever at the moment.
Let me explain a typical day…
7.30am - Networking event. Joanne and I regularly attend networking events to promote GO Wales. We are trying to increase our presence in Caerphilly so one of the meetings I regularly attend is the Caerphilly Business Forum breakfast meeting www.cbforum.co.uk.
9.00am - Emails, messages and post. Back at the office, I catch up on emails and open any post. I often have enquiries from employers looking to take on a student or a graduate and will respond by sending out information or arranging a meeting with them. I am also sent forms from employers who wish to advertise their placements on the website.
10.00am - New placement vacancies. I add any new vacancies to the GO Wales website and remove vacancies that have been filled. When a company have chosen a candidate I record this on the GO Wales database and prepare copies of our placement agreement for the employer and the chosen candidate. I send these out in advance of the placement starting and arrange a visit for the first day of the placement.
11.30am - Placement start visit. When a placement is due to start, I visit on the first day to meet the employer and placee and to go through the placement agreement with them. I also have some time alone with the placee to discuss the requirements of the placement and for them to ask any questions they might have.
1.30pm - Health and Safety visit. Before a placement can begin, if any significant risks have been identified relating to the placement, I will complete a Health and Safety check. This involves visiting the placee’s potential place of work and completing an assessment with the employer. I need to see risk assessments and policies and ask a series of questions relating to health and Safety issues.
2.30pm - Placement inbox. When candidates apply for a GO Wales placement that Jo or I are managing, their applications will be come to us via our placement inbox. We sort through these applications to see whether they meet the requirements that the employer has specified. If they do, we will forward them to the employer, if not I will offer e-guidance to candidates to improve their application or invite them in for help to tailor their CV to each role.
3.30pm - Facebook and LinkedIn. Before I go home, I update our Facebook page to advertise vacancies to students and graduates and add information relating to GO Wales to Forum’s on LinkedIn.
