Business Information Systems, programmes, postgraduate level

Work Placement Gets You Ready

 

"The work placement worked out very well for me. I got a permanent position after graduation with my placement company."
Des Flanagan
MBS Electronic Commerce 2004,
B. Commerce 2003

Connect to our video clip below to hear about Des Flanagan's experience of the work placement.

• View Video Clip

• Read the transcript

During second year of the MBS in Electronic Commerce, you spend between 6 and 9 months on a work placement in industry. This work placement is a key component of this MBS. This work placement, called the Professional Experience Programme, is of tremendous benefit to you, in many different ways.

The work placement allows you to apply the business and technical skills that you have learned in a practical context and gives you an opportunity to put your academic knowledge into practice. The work placement bridges the gap between the theory learned in the classroom and the reality of the world of work. In many cases, our MBS in Electronic Commerce students assume the responsibilities and workload equal to a permanent employee during the work placement.

Work placement gives you confidence in your own ability to work in a professional environment and helps you to develop further key interpersonal skills, particularly your communication and team-work skills. You learn at first hand about work ethics and confidentiality and about the meaning of responsibility.

Such experience greatly enhances your employment prospects. The work placement is your first introduction to a potential employer and many of our students have been hired into permanent positions at the end of the work placement. Because the work placement is quite long, the placement company gets to know you well during that period. If you perform well, you can already have become a valuable asset to the company by the end of the work placement, an asset that the company does not want to loose.

The work placement can also help you to decide the type of career that you would like to pursue and the type of organisation in which you wish to work. You also complete your research dissertation during your work placement, on a topic related to your placement company.

The Faculty of Commerce has a broad network of relationships with companies in many sectors, including investment banks, healthcare companies, IT and business consultancies and technology companies. Using these links and working through the NUI Galway Placement Office, we help you as much as we can to secure a placement, although the final decision is made by the company and by the student. Sometimes, students organise their own work placements.

All placements are salaried. Placement students are sometimes offered permanent positions with their host company that are taken up after graduation, and some placement students negotiate final year project specifications with placement employers.

Check out also why many students choose the MBS in E-Commerce at NUI Galway each year and the employment opportunities for graduates of the programme.

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