A year out: Professional Placements

All Cass undergraduates have the option of combining their degree with a professional placement year. This is your chance to acquire professional skills, knowledge and experience, giving you a real edge in the global graduate job market when you complete your degree.

The professional placement takes place in the third year, making your degree a four year programme. It’s a fantastic opportunity to acquire the kind of practical skills and competencies that graduate employers are looking for. It can also give you a clear insight into your future career choice and increase your confidence, maturity and professionalism. It’s a chance to network with professionals and put into practice the theoretical knowledge you will have gained from your first two years at Cass. The placement experience can also help you explore ideas for your dissertation when you return to Cass for your final year. Our graduating placement students have excellent degree results and in 2010, 97% of placement students graduated with a 2:1 or above.

You will be paid a salary while you’re on placement, averaging around £26,000 for the financial sector and £18,000 for marketing or HR positions. Our recent placement year students have worked in a wide range of roles for organisations such as UBS, American Express, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, Warner Bros, HSBC, Microsoft, Universal Pictures, Bank of England and Goldman Sachs.

You will be invited to apply for a placement during your second year of study and our Work Placement & Internships Coordinators can offer information and support, including assistance with CV and cover letter writing, completing online applications and providing one-to-one guidance.

We can also help with applying for summer internships, where you can gain 6-12 weeks work experience in an area relevant to your studies and career goals. Throughout the year we run events and careers fairs where you can talk to employers face-to-face about placement and internship opportunities.

Rajiv Shah, a BSc Investment and Financial Risk Management student, is currently undertaking a placement at Lloyds Banking Group, watch his video:

I am currently on placement at Lloyds Banking Group, working as a Credit Portfolio Analyst on the Strategy & Optimisation team in the Portfolio Management division. This is my opportunity to combine all the theoretical knowledge that I have learnt in my modules with the range of skills that I have developed at university and apply this all to real- life situations. I am thoroughly confident that this experience will heighten the prospects of finding employment after finishing university.