Not all students aspire to a placement with a global brand, household name or large organisation. For students studying some degrees, placements with an SME (small to medium sized organisation), in the 3rd sector, social enterprises and the like are attractive or, simply put, much more likely. However, such organisations may not have established placement programmes in place or opportunities readily available.

They might not have considered hiring a student before, and so there can be real challenges when reaching out to and engaging with this type of employer (and engaging students with such opportunities too). This participative staff development workshop aims to explore and consider techniques for engaging with these organisations, ideas to attract students, how to support these placement providers, and what to do before, during and after placements. There will be plentiful opportunities to interact with other delegates during the workshop, and to hear about as well as share good practice examples from participants’ institutions.