Name: Saskia Long

Course: Communication and Media BA (Hons)

Placement at: Sony Professional Solutions Europe

Placement Job Title: PR and Social Assistant

Placement length: 11 months

Placement company website: https://pro.sony

Three words to describe your placement: Challenging, creative and fun!

Most interesting part of your placement: Meeting, speaking and networking with all different types of people, from all corners of the world.

Hardest aspect of your placement: There are always new products and announcements, usually very technical, so it has been challenging having to keep up with these and learn about them in order to do my job.

Most enjoyable aspect of your placement: The opportunities it has given me to travel places, to tradeshows, product launches and other events.

What have you learnt that you never thought you would have this year?

How rewarding a job can be, and the confidence it has given me in myself in a professional environment.

What gave you the most satisfaction during placement year?

The idea that I’ll be going into my final year and leaving university with some great first-hand experience and knowledge of working within the industry. I feel much more prepared for what’s to come.

What are your two tips for future placement year students?

Firstly enjoy placement year, and the freedom it can give you to be independent. Secondly, get involved in the role and take every opportunity you can throughout the year.

One example of how BU supported you during your placement year?

Vianna, my placement advisor has offered constant support throughout this year. In particular, helping me think beyond placement year and making me look into graduate schemes, and other career paths I might want to take after university.

One example how your course prepared you for the placement?

During second year, we had various seminars helping us with our CV’s, applying and what is expected of us when on placement.

Future career goals: I definitely want to pursue a career in PR.

How has placement helped you focus your future plans?

Due to my role being so broad and all aspects of PR and social, it has helped me realise what I enjoy doing and what I want to focus on in the future.

What advice would you give to students?

When applying/ looking for placements try all avenues. For example put your CV on LinkedIn. Also, if you like the look of working for a company, just go for it! Even if they aren’t hiring placement students, your CV might fall into the right hands at the right time.

Why did you choose the long placement?

University can become a bit of a bubble sometimes. I wanted to step out of the bubble, gain some valuable in-depth experience in areas I’m interested in and have some time to think about what I actually want to be doing when I finish at university.

Saskia’s Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saskia-long-659924130/