This is a guest blog by Thomas Dence.

The idea of finishing University and heading straight out into the real world of work was for me, as I think it is for many, both nerve-wracking and exciting. So, when, at the beginning of my Second Year, I was given the opportunity to get a head start and take part in a ‘Sandwich placement’ I jumped at the chance. This would give me the time to try out a potential career option with the eventual ‘get out of jail free card’ of waving goodbye at the end of the year if I found it wasn’t for me.

I set out leafing through the plentiful resources that BU provided to help me find my perfect placement. Business, marketing, journalism and many other subjects had strong representation with companies such as JP Morgan boasting challenging paid internships. I struggled however to find anything purely political that caught my attention; an unpaid week shadowing an MP or supporting fieldworker’s in a conservation charity were not options that sparked my interest.

Through this process I learnt that the skills I acquire in my Politics degree, skills in marketing, journalism and the media are all skills that span multiple industries and mean that I am in the lucky position of not being tied to one or two specific fields when looking for my placement. Having broadened my horizons, I stumbled across an advertisement for a 1-year internship with Enterprise-Rent-a-Car. A company that, had it not featured on the Careers Hub, would never have crossed my mind. “Enterprise are looking for driven and motivated individuals to take part in a challenging internship”. I would need to be able to communicate effectively and would be trained in all areas of the business with the prospect of a job after university if I were successful. I set out a tentative application, not thinking too much of it and heard back almost straight away asking for a phone interview, then followed an in person ‘branch interview’ and then later a day at the ‘assessment centre’. Assessment centres are, as I have learnt since, not to be feared. The most important thing is to go there and be yourself. With Enterprise at least, they were not looking for you to be the most intelligent or the most creative in fact they were just looking for you to be confidently yourself, the first person to speak in a group discussion, the first person to attempt the fairly complex scenarios they present to you. It was a valuable experience that showed to me that Enterprise mean business and that I was going to be working alongside people that really wanted to be there.

Jumping ahead in the story I started and began to work hard for the company and when I say hard, this was like nothing I had experienced before. There is no point ‘fluffing up’ the Enterprise experience, you are there to work, develop yourself and others, and if you do not want to put your everything into your work 50+ hours a week, week after week, then it is not the job for you. Coming from being a student to suddenly having to be awake at 6.30am and not being home until 7pm at  night (including a 20min commute) was a shock to the system but it was one I adapted to fairly quickly, with your life cycle slowly becoming work/eat/sleep/repeat despite your best efforts to fight it.

The work itself was not often taxing, which was at times frustrating, but it was varied and relentless. There was always something new to see and learn, a different part of running a business, whether it be debt collection or cleaning cars. My hard work was rewarded well however with an Intensive programme of education that eventually lead to me sitting the appropriately named ‘Grill’ in March. This consists of 6 consecutive interviews that can be anywhere up to 1hr30 long where you will be asked exam style questions about every single part of the business. In order to pass you must have 80%+ in ALL 6 sections. This day was no doubt the most nerve-wracking experience of my life.

Coming out the other side however I feel an overwhelming sense of achievement, I have absolutely no regrets about my choice of internship and feel I have developed extensively both as a person and a Politics student during the year. The work ethic, communication and analytical ability that I have honed will give me all that I need to blitz my final year a BU.

If you are in two minds about doing a sandwich placement then please take my strong recommendation to do it on board. And more importantly I suggest you choose to do something completely different, something you have never thought of doing before because its an adventure and you have absolutely nothing to lose.