Working together to promote excellence in Physics SEPnet Summer Internship Scheme 2013 Veronica Benson – Director of Employer Liaison

Working together to promote excellence in Physics What is SEPnet? The South East Physics Network (SEPnet) is a consortium of physics departments in 7 universities The SEPnet partners work together to deliver excellence in physics through collaboration, teaching and research Includes an outreach programme to increase student interest A virtual Graduate School offering a European Masters course A collaborative research programme at PhD level An employer programme to develop graduate skills and further employer engagement

Working together to promote excellence in Physics What is the SEPnet Summer Internship Scheme? An annual scheme offering placements to students at partner universities Employers who recruit physics graduates offer 8- week summer projects to physics students Projects are circulated to students who can apply for roles

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Why should I consider the SEPnet Summer Internship Scheme? Practise applying for a role in a relevant field Try out a job or research Develop your employability skills Receive a bursary of £1,360 to cover your expenses One in three graduate posts are filled by people who have previously worked for that company as an intern* Two-thirds of companies in the top 100 will not even CONSIDER recruiting a graduate without relevant work experience* Attend the SEPnet Students’ Expo to present a poster *Source: People Management Magazine January 2011

Working together to promote excellence in Physics What sort of placements are available? Range of roles and organisations Last year we had placements with QinetiQ, Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Intech Science Centre and Planetarium, Selex SE, Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, National Physical Laboratory, SMEs, Research placements at partner universities and many more This year so far also BAE Systems, AMEC, Good Energy, Met Office, Thales Group

Working together to promote excellence in Physics What kind of work is available? A wide range of opportunities including: o Analysing data from CERN o Testing software for fusion experiments o Website development o Demonstrating science experiments to school students o Developing techniques for detecting opium crops from space o Setting up simulator-based military training events

Working together to promote excellence in Physics How does it work? You need to register with SEPnet from December and send us your CV to apply SEPnet collects project descriptions from organisations We collate the best projects for you to apply to. We you the list of projects mid-February It’s then a competitive process. Find the projects that interest you, apply direct to the organisation. You should find out if you have been successful by April. For further details, visit: ships/index.html ships/index.html

Working together to promote excellence in Physics How does it work? Organisations select students either by: o Face to face interview o Telephone interview o CV We strongly advise you visit your Careers Service before applying The Careers Service can give advice on: o Writing a good CV o Interview techniques o Practice interviews o Application forms

Working together to promote excellence in Physics FAQs What if I want to go on holiday? o That’s fine with SEPnet – just check with your potential supervisor before you accept a placement What should the bursary cover? o Living expenses. (Check with your host company to see if they cover or contribute to travel/expenses) What if the placement is some distance from where I’m living? o Be realistic about how far you can travel o You can arrange an accommodation swap via our Facebook page

Working together to promote excellence in Physics What employers have said: Having a student enables us to carry out a task on a more novel/research orientated basis than we would be able to commit the resources to otherwise. Well organised. Good way of engaging with students. Provided a good number of applications from which we could choose a suitable candidate. Chris was very quickly thrown into the set-up and execution of a customer trial, working with scientists, engineers, military trainees and behavioural observers. Chris rapidly learned practical communication and team working skills to help deliver a successful trial. Good quality students. Impressed with applicants. Even the worst ones would have been good. We took SEPnet students for the second year running this year and have been very impressed with the calibre of the students, their capabilities and the general high standard. For your records (as it’s always good to hear success stories) we have just made a permanent job offer to one of the students we had in 2011.

Working together to promote excellence in Physics What students have said: I would certainly recommend doing a placement in the future. I’ve had an amazing summer and even though it meant I didn’t have much time off, I was enjoying it so much that it really did feel like a break. Doing a SEPnet placement gives you a hand-on experience of different jobs (industrial or research). Such experience will help me to make a more conscious decision after my graduation. Doing a summer placement is a great opportunity to gain as much relevant work experience as possible. It’s one of the best ways to improve your CV, and impress your prospective employers Every day you hear how hard the job market is getting, you need every bit of help you can get. SEPnet offered a chance to get valuable and relevant work experience. How could I say no? Doing a SEPnet placement hugely improves your skills and knowledge. It looks amazing on your CV and it gives you a chance to network with the science industry.

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Summary of benefits Valuable work experience for your CV A chance to develop your employability skills A chance to find out what you do (and don’t want to do) See the relevance of your studies and even improve your grades! Make useful contacts – you may even get a job! Receive a bursary to help cover your living expenses! Present your project at the annual Students’ Expo

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Some tips Apply for a placement EVEN IF you don’t know what you want to do Apply for more than one placement Prepare a good CV Treat the interview seriously Research the organisation and check you can get there!

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Yash Gupta from Southampton with Professor Adrian Podoleanu of University of Kent Alexander May from Kent with Chris Smith of Kittiwake Developments

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Next steps Visit Register at: mer_internships/information_students.html mer_internships/information_students.html Send your CV to:

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Other placement schemes IOP's Top 40 Work Placements Scheme offers penultimate year physics students bursaries of £2,000 to carry out 8-wk summer placements closing date for students to submit their applications is 26 April 2013 see placement guide: IBM physics students can join their 3-month summer placement scheme Extreme Blue. applications will close before February Thales offers students and graduates the opportunity to spend between 3 and 12 months at one of their UK locations students and graduates are recruited into engineering roles eg Systems, Software & Hardware Engineering DSTL (Defence Science & Technology Laboratory) summer placements are available to students looking for an 8-12 week job salaries start at approx £14,500 pro rata STFC (Science & Technology Facilities Council) scheme open for applications from March until April. last year 9 places available and 115 applications. Students are paid £1,100 pm

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Other placement schemes National Grid 12 week summer internships typically offered during the penultimate year at university Salary £15,600 pa (pro-rata) Roles available across a number of business areas within National Grid Visit internships at Opportunities/Students/The-Programmes/ Opportunities/Students/The-Programmes/ Renishaw take on a number of students during the summer holidays for 8 and 14 weeks. location - Gloucestershire looking for individuals for engineering, physics and manufacturing having your own transport is essential must be eligible to work in the UK and have a valid visa applications still accepted March/April for summer placements Ford Run a summer 8-week paid placements scheme for undergraduates Engineering positions, open to students studying physics degrees Visit to find out about summer placements in 2013http://

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Thank you!