Transitioning into a professional legal office environment has strengthened Sharon’s organisational and time management skills. She is now confident in managing her own workload, and being able to approach challenges with a positive mind-set. Sharon has also been giving responsibility for organising and promoting a events, which has given her a sense of leadership and ownership in her day to day work. During these projects she enjoyed motivating others and working as a team to solve problems. Sharon has discovered that she likes to get stuck in right from the start; this helps to keep her motivated and give her a sense of purpose. There is no time to waste in her office, and she needs to stay focused and on task to help everyone in her team.

Feedback from PT Law

Although Immigration wasn’t originally an area which Sharon wanted to pursue a career in, she has turned this around, developed a strong interest in the area and views the practice in a different light. Sharon's maturity and readiness to learn impressed us all at the firm; having noticed her potential we decided to put Sharon through the OISC level 1 to set her up for her future career. There will be a supervision plan to help Sharon to learn and develop, and then she could progress to level 2 or 3 in the qualification if she wants to.

PT Law are supporting Sharon to study towards an Office of Immigration Services Commissioner level one qualification in Immigration and Asylum advice. Sharon will begin studying in February, with an exam in March.

Becky has spent the majority of her placement creating stained glass windows for a project on a famous London landmark* and has already gained a wealth of new technical skills for working with glass. Becky will soon be moving to the installation side of things, and will be working on the construction site to install the panels with her fellow Glaziers.

Following this, Becky will be entering a prestigious competition ‘The Stevens Competition 2019 Architectural Glass Artist of the Year’ which involves designing a piece of stained glass artwork to be installed in the Waiting Area of the Proton Beam Therapy Unit at University College Hospital in London. This competition has been running for 40 years, and is open exclusively to early career glass artists and designers. Becky’s manager, John Reyntein, has previously been a judge for the competition, so she will be given excellent guidance to help her prepare her submission. No doubt Becky's experiences will equip her with some fantastic ideas for her final year art exhibition at Lancaster.

Feedback from Becky

“There have been many enjoyable elements of this placement, but I would say the moments I have enjoyed the most are the ones where I feel I have accomplished something. For instance, after struggling to cement three panels in a day I was soon able to complete six. Being told that my glass cutting was getting faster and more accurate gave me a sense of achievement and, I suppose, as a result has made me enjoy cutting glass far more than when I first started. This may show where I find my motivation from: encouragement and achievement.

I see myself working in Stained Glass after I graduate, though I still have my options open. It’s a great artistic job where you can both work for someone else or be self-employed, making windows on a commission basis. Financially it can be a struggle for some, but for those who find good projects, it can work out well. I know that if I utilise the connections from this placement, it will better by chances of being successful. It is a career which could allow me to be creative, enjoy my workplace and also to bring beauty into places- something which is far more valuable to me than financial achievements.

The experience this job, especially this project, has given me will be invaluable for my future career whether it be in stained glass or another vocation. I am being encouraged to enter a competition, which will give a creative outlet for the skills I am learning. The brief is to make a panel, which will be in a waiting room, for cancer patients to brighten their day. This will be a great experience which will impact my career opportunities. I am excited for what the future holds. "

*subject to confidentiality agreement.

Steph began her placement with General Electric in July 2018

Steph has settled in well with her contracts team at GE, and has taken on an impressive level of responsibility. She has become the go-to person in her team in creating specialist types of contracts to be used with some of GE's largest clients. Since starting her placement in July 2018, Steph has built on her interpersonal and professional skills; including commercial awareness, time management, and negotiation. Steph was trained by last year's placement student, and was welcomed into her role with a very friendly and supporting team. Steph has already won several staff awards, and has also engaged with community volunteering projects with her team at GE.

"I choose to take a placement year to put my law degree into practice. Law is fiercely competitive, and placement years are unusual for law students. Therefore, I decided that it would be a great opportunity to set myself apart from many other law students. Additionally, it was an opportunity to move away from home to a new part of the country, and make new friends. It is also a chance to learn new skills.

The FASS team have been great throughout the process. They have helped from identifying the basics of the application process to helping brief me for face-to-face interviews. I would have struggled a lot without their support and guidance. They are the reason I have a placement at such a fantastic company!

I am a legal and compliance intern. My role is supporting the contracts team. This includes anything from reviewing documents, tracking changes, executing documents to negotiating with customers. Additionally, answering the questions when contracts are breached. Customers range from Airbus to the UK Government.

From this placement year, I hope to gain many practical skills. Most importantly putting my degree into practice. Furthermore, building connections for the future."

After a Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Internship helped me to gain work experience in two northern publishing houses, I am now Sales & Production Manager at Comma Press. In my role at Comma, I currently oversee the entire production process of our books, liaising with printers and designers, proofreading and copy-editing and converting all titles into eBooks.

In my sales role I deal with distributors, wholesalers, booksellers and so on, as well as our sales team and produce sales material such as catalogues and presentations for sales conferences. My role also includes planning and overseeing all live events, book launches and author appearances. During my time at Comma, I have also co-edited two collections of stories in translation, The Book of Tbilisi and The Book of Riga, part of our Reading the City series.

Having such an active literary scene within the English department definitely helped me build up my CV, and by becoming an editor of both Cake magazine and Flash journal, I learned skills which gave me a grounding that was massively helpful in my current role. I also can’t commend enough the guidance of my tutors, for helping me gain confidence in myself and my skills and giving me one-to-one time to talk.

I took part in the Lancaster Career Mentoring Scheme, and having someone in the industry helping me tailor my CV and applications for different job descriptions really gave me a boost and, I believe, helped me greatly when interviewing for the internships I was later offered.

I'm so lucky because I have such a varied role, I can be doing something different every day, and so I am continually learning, meeting new people. Working in a small, dedicated team at an indie press in the North was my dream graduate job and now, happily, is my actual job!