Georgia Wilkes’ Business placement in Australia

Before the trip

What’s your background (which uni / course)?

Forensics with Criminological Psychology at Staffordshire University.

Why did you choose to do a placement as part of your degree?

I wanted experience to put on my CV for future careers. I wanted to also learn life experiences and challenges along the way to help me find myself as a person.

How did you first discover us?

I googled international placements and browsed through different websites.

Were you finding it hard to find a placement?

Yes, as I didn’t know myself what I wanted to do as I couldn’t do a psychology placement as I need a degree first – which is what I’m trying to obtain. I knew I definitely wanted to do an international placement.

Did you think this was unachievable on your own?

I needed the help actually getting to Australia which Placement Year International provided me with.

What made you choose Placement Year International over other services?

It had the most interesting countries to go to as well as interesting and a good variety of different placements to do. The reviews that I read beforehand were also convincing.

How easy was the process from interview to getting to your placement with our help?

With Placement Year International help it was very easy, I made some mistakes along the way which made it more difficult than it needed to be but I was very happy with the support and guidance I got from Richard and KC (Placement Year International staff) throughout.

Georgia at an event in Australia representing her host company during her Business placement

On placement

What are you doing for your placement?

Event management for an Australian Trade and Logistics company.

What is your role?

• Find interesting and suitable venues
• Contact venues about event hosting
• Create run sheets and budget sheets
• Sort out catering, extras, etc.

What skills or knowledge have you gained so far during your placement?

• Able to plan venues suitable for the event.
• To be assertive and confident when contacting companies about venues, telling them specifically what we want or do not want.
• Leaned how to make budget and run sheets about the venue.
• How to be convincing over an email about the event we want to host.

Did you find it difficult adapting to a new working environment?

No, not really. I enjoy planning and looking for fun, interesting and quirky venues for events as well as going to the event that we have planned. Although I found the budget sheet the most difficult out of everything, getting precise costs for everything and considering things that might change the price drastically.

Have you received good support & advice from your work colleagues at the host company?

Yes I have, Lawrence the CEO, makes it very clear what he wants me to do and always supports my questions if I have any. Another intern here is from Germany, he is friendly and it’s nice to have a friend at the placement too.

How has your placement helped you develop as a person so far?

So far, it has helped me become more assertive and is teaching me to not second guess myself every time I do something I’m a bit unsure about. Going with gut instinct is normally a good thing to do. I have become more confident in terms of if I need help I will ask for it and not hesitate if something is on my mind.

Since joining Placement Year International, what have we done well?

Placement Year International have given me support and guidance from the start when applying for the placements to getting to the placement successfully. They have checked up on me whilst I’m over here a few times to make sure I’m doing ok and have clearly let me know that if I need anything, they are there to help.

What do you think we can improve?

I’m unsure on what can be improved!

If you were to recommend us to friends, what would you say?

I would say that they are very supportive and helpful in terms of giving you everything you need to do and know. Although there’s a price involved, it is definitely worth every penny, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and teaches you a lot about yourself as well as getting to experience cultural differences.