On Thursday the 29th of February, LUMS Careers hosted their annual Placement Student of the Year Awards. Returning placement students are given the opportunity to present to a large audience of fellow students, academic staff, support staff, and industry representatives about their experiences during their year in industry.

During this year’s event, six students from various industries spoke about their personal and professional development during their placement year. They spoke on their impacts on the role and company, what made their placements standout, and how they applied academic theory to their roles. Students also spoke on the challenges they overcame during their placement year as well as parting advice to other students embarking on their own placement journeys.

This year’s finalists and their placement companies included Syed Abbas Hasan at Unilever, Rosie Logue at Toyota UK, Pollyana Smith at Aldi, Patrycja Kubicz at L’Oreal, Kishan Kotecha at Walt Disney World, and Elizabeth Burgon M&S. Rosie Logue rose as the awarded Placement Student of the Year.

The event judges included alumnus Charlotte Wray (LUMS 2023 Placement Student of the Year & Commercial Finance Analyst at Benson for Beds), Rory Daly (Head of Careers in LUMS), Dr. Sayjda Talib (Senior Teaching Fellow in the Accounting & Finance Department), Richard Harrison (CEO of Switch2), and Nuala Lewis (Employer Engagement Manager with Lancaster University Careers Service).

Noeleen Hammond Jones, Deputy Head of LUMS Careers for Work-related Learning said, “Work placements are a very important aspect of our placement students’ university experience and maximises their employability skills and access to opportunities. Celebrating the success of our students is an excellent opportunity to showcase to future year groups the benefits and advantages of what work experience can do for your future career. This year’s placement students were so inspiring with the breadth of industries and roles represented. All our students did incredible and continue to support activities in the school as well as future placement year students through talks, supporting our MNGT150 module and our speed networking events.”