Hi there! My name is Joel, I’m 24 years old and I’m studying Interaction Design (Now Digital Design) here at Ulster University Belfast. I am currently on my third year of the course doing placement within Ulster University working in the Development and Alumni Relations Office. A fun fact about me is that I started University in 2019 just before COVID where half of my first year was online, however I decided to take 2 year break afterwards but have since then decided to come back in 2023 to finish my degree.
My Placement Process
Like I said, I am currently on placement at Ulster University, however initially I was not planning on doing placement and going straight into Final Year. After talking to my tutors more, my friends as well as thinking about it more myself, I realised how beneficial a placement year would be for not only me as a person but also my career after University.
As I was contemplating the thought of placement, I only started to look for placement in February of 2024 which is quite late compared to others in my course. Truthfully, I was worried that I had left it too late to search for a placement as most of the companies that had come into my course to talk about opportunities had all been taken by others in my course. However, luckily there were still companies reaching out to our course offering placement opportunities.
The first placement I applied to was a UX Designer position at a company called Aflac here in Belfast. For this interview, I had to prepare a 10-15 minute presentation talking about two different projects that I created before having a standard 30 minute interview with different questions relevant to the role as well as my interpretation of UI/UX. Overall the interview did go well however I did end up missing out on the position to someone else. This feeling can be very disheartening; however, I was lucky that the company called me to give me feedback on how my interview went which I was very appreciative of. The best way that I look at this is that every rejection is a learning experience, to where you will know what you can improve upon in the future.
About a couple of weeks later, my course tutor informed my class that there was a placement opportunity here at Ulster in the Development and Alumni Relations Office to where they had specifically offered a placement opportunity to someone within my course for the position of Student to Alumni Co-ordinator. After consideration, I decided to go onto Handshake and apply for the position. For this application process, I just had to upload a cover letter as well as my CV onto Handshake.
Within a couple of weeks, I got an email back saying that I have been invited for an interview in early May. For this interview process, I was told that I would be given a task to complete before going for another 30 minute interview with questions. For me, going for any form of interview is extremely nerve wracking and anxiety inducing, but I know, all I can ever do is my best. Going in for my interview, I was taken to a room and given a small task to complete. After some time had passed, I was then taken to another room for my interview to where I met people from my team who were conducting the interview. Like I said, I was super nervous before going in for my interview and was going into it prepared for the worst, which is a bad mindset might I add, however, as soon as I sat down for the questions, I ended up feeling that this was one of the best interviews that I have ever had. Even though it was a professional interview for a placement opportunity, I felt completely at ease the entire time and was able to talk about each question in detail providing examples and reasonings. Overall, I felt like it was a great interview though I was still unsure if I was going to get the job.
After completing the interview, I was informed that it could take up to a week before I heard back from them to find out if I got the position or not. With that in mind, I went on with my day and went to go work at my Part Time Job at the time. To my surprise, later that afternoon/early evening, I received a call in work to let me know that DARO were wanting to offer me the Placement Opportunity. At first, I couldn’t believe that all my hard work and dedication had paid off before the excitement and joy took over that I was able to get myself a Placement job.
Faces of UU 2024
My Placement So Far
I am currently about halfway through my placement at the minute and I can easily say it was one of the best things that I have done. I have been able to learn so much in such a short time already and I’m super excited to see what else is going to happen during the second half. I’ve also been able to go to some amazing events, different companies on top of meeting some incredible people who have all been very insightful and helped me out along the way.
With my placement I am lucky that I am getting to work in two different departments, my main department which is DARO working with Alumni and Students to make sure that they stay connected with Ulster once they leave University, but also working down in the Marketing and Communications Department within Ulster to get a sense what it’s like to work on in more of a design based role within a workplace which is very beneficial for me considering my University Course is very design based. I’ve been able to work on webpages for the official Ulster University website, create Social Media posts about upcoming events and activities for Ulster Alumni, help set up different Events and I have even redesigned the Alumni Welcome Newsletter for new Alumni who have signed up to stay connected with Ulster University just to name a few things.
UUUX Society
In September 2024, I ended up joining the Committee of the UUUX Society in Ulster as the Treasurer. This is something that is completely new to me as I’ve never done anything like this before. The UUUX society is a relatively new society as well as it was only created in 2023. I ended up going to one of the first events that was hosted at the River House in Belfast where the society then had organised a relaxed industry insight night where past pupils of the Interaction Design Course at Ulster came in and talked to us about how placement was like for them as well as their current careers. It was super insightful and truthfully it gave me the drive to want to find a placement opportunity myself. After the talk there was also the social aspect of it by everyone going out to the National Bar for a more relaxed and casual setting while having drinks and networking. After this event, I was super interested in being more a part of the Society as I wanted to see it grow and expand to more people so that connections and memories would be made.
Since joining the society, we have hosted several different events within the first semester of this year. These events include a Welcome Night, a Pub Quiz and a Drink & Design night. Each event had seen a great turnout of students from years 1-3 and even Master Students. During the Welcome event, we wanted to make sure that the members of the Society had as much of a say as the Committee members so we asked everyone to write down what they would like to get out from the Society. It was great to see all the different suggestions people had and how mixed it was between the social aspect of a Society, but also a more Industry aspect of it with examples of talks from industry professionals to even advice from past/current students for students about to embark on their placement year.
I am excited to see how the Society will go in both Semester 2 and 3 this year as we already have a couple of events shaping up well! From our first industry talk this year to more casual nights out building relationships and connections with everyone.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this year has been incredible so far with so many different amazing opportunities with both my Placement job and even within the UUUX Society. If I was to give any advice for students who are looking to make the most out of their University Experience, I will say to throw yourself at regarding to finding a placement as well as joining a society.
With a Placement, even though it seems daunting, and can a lot of the times be stressful to try and find one, the pay off in the end is worth it as you’ll learn so much about yourself as well as new skills which you can then apply within your final year as well as work in the future once you leave University.