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Industrial Placements
Industrial placements are a valuable opportunity to put your learning into practice and develop technical skills relevant to your vocational courses.
They will enable you to finish your programme of study with the skills, knowledge and expertise that employers are seeking. At Henley we have relationships with a broad range of employers and we’ll help you in finding the right placement. We then visit our students in the workplace to support and monitor their progress. When looking for a placement, the main thing is to keep an open mind.
You might have your heart set on working for a particular company, but it’s equally important to land the right role that will offer the best experience. We have a dedicated Industrial Placement Coordinator who is available to give advice and guidance to students following this route.
Jacqueline Oyedele, Industry Placement Coordinator
The Industry Placements programme is an exciting, work-related, learning opportunity for our students. My focus is to continuously improve the work placement experiences of students, employers,
and other external organisations that host them. We have a learner-centred approach, ensuring placements meet the individual needs of the student by supporting them in gaining the skills, knowledge and experience they need to support their learning journey at college, and beyond.
The quality of the Industrial Placements has led to the commissioning of an Industry Placement award, which recognises students who have been shown to be a highly valued addition to the placement provider, in demonstrating outstanding professional competence, and fully embracing the values of their placement/organisation.
We are privileged to have access to a variety of industry-leading businesses and organisations, and we work closely with teachers, employers, and trainers. It is essential that our students have exposure to tangible experiences in the world of work, whether they are progressing to higher education, or industry. We enable our young people to recognise and develop their potential, and in turn stand out as a student from Henley.”
Cameron Scott is studying Travel and Tourism Extended Diploma Level 3 and is currently doing an Industry Placement at Cisco:
"My work placement with Cisco gave me really valuable, relevant experience to the career path I want to go down, I feel it helped me develop communicative skills through pitching and presenting ideas which would gear me towards the world of work."
Charlotte Batson, Business Extended Diploma Level 3 student:
"I first found out about the Cisco industrial placement through The Henley College, before I did the interview, we were given lots of support by internal staff members of the college including tutors and June Hogan the Industry placement coordinator.
The interview was 30 minutes and was made up of three parts we had to make a PowerPoint, do a role-play and talk about ourselves. Overall, the interview process was pleasant and despite my initial nerves, I felt comfortable once I started talking.
We found out if we had got the opportunity very quickly and then we started to work with people at Cisco.
"There are many benefits to the Cisco industrial placement, the main one for me is being able to explore a company I may not have considered without this placement. I have learned about different aspects of the business and it has helped me to understand what I may want to do when I leave The Henley College."
Doing the industrial placement also looks good on your CV and will help you to better understand what it’s like to be in the working environment. Since starting at Cisco I have already found myself asking more questions and being more confident to explore different challenges and I look forward to learning more with the support of staff there."
Engineering Extended Diploma Level 3 student:
"I am currently enjoying my work placement at Ashby Precision Engineering.
I have found this work placement has been really good for me as I have learned a lot of new skills. Every week I have been able to operate the manual machinery, CNC machinery, and different cleaning processes that they use at Ashby.
"Some of the main things that have stood out for me are: how to set up different jobs inside the CNC machines and started the machines to make the part; how to use different tools on the manual milling machines and made parts for customers of Ashby, how to use the ultrasonic cleaners to prepare parts for oxygen use."
Summer is studying Travel and Tourism (Extended Diploma) Level 3.
“As part of my course, I was lucky enough to take part in the college Industrial placement programme. I was lucky enough to know what career path I wanted to go down. This for me is Real Estate. I had a very good contact and with the help of my teacher June Hogan, who spoke to my contact about the Industrial placement, I was able to secure a place with Knight Frank in London. Every Wednesday I would travel to the office that I was assigned to for that week. The college funded my travel expenses during my time with Knight Frank. During my time there I would take clients to viewings, I also took videos of properties to update the website. Working with Knight Frank showed me how much everyone enjoyed their jobs and I got to experience what the negotiators did on a day-to-day basis. During this placement I have had a taste of what it's like working for Knight Frank and this has helped me decide that this is the career pathway that I want to take. As a result of the Industrial placement, I have been offered a job in one of the offices as a junior lettings negotiator which will start after I have finished by college course this year.
Doing this Industrial placement has given me the opportunity to gain new skills as well as the employability skills required for real life work.
At the age of 17 I have already secured a job at a top estate agency in central London. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to take part in the Industrial Placement programme.”
Industrial Placement Event
Watch the a recording of our Industrial Placement event and find out more about the programme, how an Industrial Placement will help you, what the placement will look like, and how placements have helped other students.