City’s Micro-Placement Programme — Bahlla’s Experience

City’s Micro-Placements Programme (MPP) is a 15-credit elective that offers opportunities for students who want to explore careers different from those traditionally associated with their degree.

Micro-Placements are an exciting way to gain professional experience via short summer placements with a wide range of London-based employers.

Bahlla Karim, BSc Business Management student at the Business School (formely Cass), completed her Micro-Placement during the summer of 2021 at Emani, an international tech startup focusing on collecting and analysing human insights and data from high risk countries. Below she shares her experience, top tips and advice for other students looking to upgrade their skills and stand out from the crowd…

Liverpool Street station, London.

1. Micro-Placement vs Internship

What are Micro-Placements, and how are they different to internships you say? Well, Micro-Placements are a type of work experience that last about for 4–8 weeks and are generally to explore a field outside what you are studying at university. For example, if you are studying psychology, you are encouraged to get experience in marketing, finance and much more depending on your interests. Micro-Placements can also count as a module in your second or third year at university, which means you have to complete compulsory assessments to gain credit.

Internships on the other hand, can be done anytime during your time at university and do not count towards your degree. They tend to be 1–6 months long and can be in any field or company you like. Both internships and Micro-Placements are competitive to get into and offer similar benefits. Micro-Placements might be better for those who want to explore different options and career paths. Internships might be better for those who want to advance in a particular company or role. My best advice on this would be to do your research to make sure you find which option is right for you.

2. Securing a Micro-Placement

Okay, so you’ve done your research and decided you want to do a Micro-Placement. How do you now approach applying for one? There are some tricks I gathered when I was going through the application process myself. My best advice would be to first brainstorm yourself- your personality, skillset, limitations and achievements. After you’ve done this think about:

• Contacting your careers department for interview help or cv check.
• Speaking to previous students who have completed the Micro-Placement.
• Prioritising your commitments (the Micro-Placement application process can take months and you need to be up to date with relevant information and be able to meet deadlines).
• Gathering relevant podcasts/books/news articles to raise your commercial awareness.
• Being responsive to emails from employers and university.
• Journal and taking notes on aspects important to you.

After you’ve done some or ideally all of these steps, it’s important you prepare well for interviews (video interviews especially) and use case studies online to prepare for assessment centres if you have them as part of the application process.

3. My Micro-Placement experience

The beauty of Micro-Placements is that all the projects are different. I will share with you my personal story, and what I learnt.

The first week was spent on getting familiar with the technology, team, and structure of the project. I would have to plan how I would execute the next 5 weeks of my research. My final output would be a 30 minute presentation of all the research I had done in those 5 weeks.

On Week 2 and 3 of my Micro-Placement, I felt challenged and upbeat. My days would look something like this:

• Attending meetings on what the team has done so far on their projects in the mornings.
• Replying to emails and team chats.
• Carrying out desk research.
• Having lunch.
• Preparing agendas for one to one meetings, including any questions I had on the project.
• Helping out team members.

Issues faced in Week 2 & 3: Because I was working in a startup, resources that were available were limited or had many assumptions. I had to use multiple resources:

1. Online, being careful on referencing them and making sure they were reliable and up to date.
2. Using textbooks from the library to refresh my knowledge on certain topics E.g. using a marketing textbooks to refresh my knowledge on target audience.
3. Existing resources in the company, e.g. financial models.

On Week 4 and 5 I decided to change my approach and provide a more technical aspect to the project:

• Working with excel.
• Carrying out mathematical calculations.
• Providing various frameworks on competitor analysis and market sizing. As a business management student, I found myself using my accounting and marketing knowledge frequently when researching the target audience and carrying out market sizing.
• I also made sure to have fun before I left — whether that was going out for lunch or playing ping pong with my colleague.

Issues faced in Week 4 & 5: I was doing multiple tasks and had to prepare the final draft of my presentation which made it more difficult to manage time. I had to organise all my files on google drive as this was where my employer could view them.

Overall, the Micro-Placement experience was brilliant, I had a lot of support from my employer and university and working in a startup where things are constantly changing and developing, I naturally felt very inspired and excited as I was constantly learning.

4. Developing new skills

Be original, create your own opportunities, and tell your story.

You want to learn new skills, most people do, but have you thought about what skills in particular you want to achieve and why? You see, part of making the most of the Micro-Placement is to realise what you want, and then create and gather resources for yourself to make this happen.

For example, scheduling and taking part in meetings/social activities built my management skills, networking with people outside the organisation enhanced my professional communication skills, and desk research improved my analytical skills. Alongside this, I was helping out with website development, LinkedIn posts and completed a cybersecurity course. Had I not been open to these, I would have missed out on a crucial learning process. It can be a very exciting time, and you will feel responsible for your work.

5. Next steps to consider after your Micro-Placement

After you complete your Micro-Placement, it’s a wise decision to connect with team members, employers and follow the company on social media. You might also have to complete some assessments if you are taking the Micro-Placement as a module, the sooner you complete them the better as the information is still fresh in your mind. You might also consider asking the employer for future roles in the company, and giving them an updated CV for their record.

Inspired to know more?

It’s important to note that everyone has different perspectives and experiences, and this blog was my view on the Micro-Placement programme. Find out more about City’s Micro-Placement programme here. Feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions. Good luck on your journey!