Placements and work experience
Building relevant experience through placements, work experience and volunteering during your time at Edinburgh Napier can support your personal and professional development. These opportunities can help you learn about your strengths and skills and gain a better understanding of the role or industry you might want to work in.
Placements
We offer several different placement options for students studying a range of subjects at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Placements are aimed at supporting your professional development and preparing you for the world of work with industry-based work experience to give you a taste of a potential career.
Placements can run from 20 hours to 12 months. Speak to your Programme Leader to confirm if a placement is possible as part of your programme.
The Student Futures placement team supports students with finding, applying for and preparing for a work placement.
Find out more about placements on myFuture.
For School of Health and Social Care practice placement queries please contact the SHSC Placement team by emailing sighthill.placements@napier.ac.uk
Internships
An internship is a fixed-term role that usually runs over the summer months or after graduation. It is an opportunity that you organise yourself, outside your programme of study.
Some useful websites for searching for internships include:
Project work as part of your studies
Live project work can be offered as an alternative to a placement and is undertaken within your programme where you will collaborate with a host organisation or employer. Speak to your module leader to find out about project options in your programme.
Online job simulations
Forage offers online job simulation experiences from several Fortune 500 companies. During the program, you work through tasks set by the company, designed to replicate the sort of work that you would undertake as an intern or graduate.
All Forage programs are self-paced and take between 5-6 hours to complete, ensuring that you can complete the simulation alongside other commitments. These programmes, which are completely free, include:
- Video instructions and materials created by employees within your chosen organisation.
- Work that reflects real day-to-day tasks of interns and graduates.
- The chance to compare your work with that of a graduate at your chosen organisation.
Visit the Forage website to view all available job simulations.
Volunteering
Volunteering means giving up some of your time and skills in unpaid meaningful work, often with a non-for-profit or a charitable organisation.
Volunteer Edinburgh and Volunteer Scotland are good places to start searching for opportunities.
How to search for opportunities
Searching for opportunities will depend on the type of work experience you are seeking. For more information on how to apply for opportunities, visit the CVs and applications page.
Applying for advertised opportunities
Use online job portals, employer websites, social media and professional bodies websites. You can also find out more on the MyFuture opportunities page.
Applying on a speculative basis
This means proactively reaching out to an organisation who are not currently advertising a vacancy. Some organisations create jobs, internships or placements for candidates who reach out to them on a speculative basis.
Approaching organisations on a speculative basis includes making contact through a phone call, an email or through social media like LinkedIn and perhaps sharing you CV and cover letter. Another useful way of securing an opportunity can be using your network of contacts, asking your friends, family or ex-colleagues to let you know of any opportunities they might be aware of.
Applying for an ENU Placement
You will receive information about opportunities via email or Moodle. You often submit a CV and cover letter to the placement team or directly to the host organisation. You may also be invited to interview.
Attending employer events
Our Graduate Recruitment team organises events throughout the year including jobs fairs, networking events and employer presentations. Visit MyFuture to view and book onto an employer event.
Stay safe from scams and fraud in the workplace
Scams and frauds are crimes in which deception is used for personal gain, usually to make money or obtain information.
With technology improving, fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated. Many types of scams exist, including email phishing, ticket fraud and job scams such as fake requests to purchase something for work using your own money.
If you are working part-time or out on placement, make sure to stay vigilant so you can spot and keep safe from potential scams. If something doesn't seem right, or if you get a request to spend your own money on something for work, take the following steps:
- Stop - does the request seem unusual or out of character?
- Think - is it likely and credible that this is a real request? Is the person pressuring you to act quickly? Is what they are asking you to do reasonable?
- Check - contact your manager or the placement team to check whether this is a real request. Make sure you use a known email address or contact number that you have been given directly – not any contact details that the potential fraudster has given you.
Remember, these schemes work by encouraging you to act without thinking. If something doesn't seem right, stop, think and check.
If you think you have been a victim of a scam, our Student Wellbeing team can offer guidance and support.