Enterprise Nation

We’ve mentioned RateMyPlacement.co.uk as one of the sites to turn to when recruiting students for project and summer work. We talk to one of the company’s three founders, Ali Lindsay, to ask how they started out and how you can make the most of a placement.

Where did you do your placement?

I did my 12 month placement in the power tools section at Robert Bosch in Uxbridge. My fellow co-founders had experiences at IBM, Janssen-Cilag, Deutsche Bank and Bank of England and the website was launched in October 2007 to provide students following in our footsteps with a unique student insight into what it’s like to work for companies as a placement student or an intern.

What was the one thing you learned most from the experience?

We had some excellent experiences and learnt a lot of new skills, however we also had mixed experiences, some of which we didn’t foresee when looking at the job description. We felt we could help students by creating our own website and once this idea became a reality we found the one mutual learning experience was we didn’t want to work for anyone else!

The experience gave you the idea for RateMyPlacement.co.uk – can you tell us what the business does and who runs it?

RateMyPlacement.co.uk is an undergraduate recruitment website that specialises in work placements and internships for students in 1st and 2nd year at UK universities. We come with a bit of a twist as we allow students to feedback about their experiences to ensure other students apply for roles and organisations they are best suited to. There are 3 of us that run the website and just last month we got our first employee on board!

What would be your advice to a student who is considering a placement with a large company versus a business start-up?

Work out why you are doing a placement and what you want to get from the experience. If you want a big name on your CV and all the perks of working in a large organisation such as having many other students around and being on a fast track graduate scheme then apply for a large company. From our experiences through the student reviews we find that smaller companies provide more exposure to the business and allow students to run projects and work alongside the MD, which can often provide you with greater exposure to what it’s like to work in a business. If I were to do it again... I’d choose an SME over a large company!

What would your advice be to a home business owner on how they make the most of the placement?

Find a self starter who is motivated and understands your business and provide them with responsibility to make decisions and make an impact. Students will want to work for your company to learn and understand what it’s like running a small business so the more exposure to the business your provide the more motivated and enthusiastic they will be!

What are your plans for RMP in 2009?

We aim to continue growing RateMyPlacement.co.uk so we’re firmly established as the number one resource for students looking for work placements and internships in the UK.

• RateMyPlacement.co.uk 

The image seen above was provided by the RMP team as their team shot - it does bear an uncanny resemblance to the real thing.