Professional placements

Why do a placement year?

A placement year is an excellent opportunity to gain invaluable work experience, either within an area that is directly related to your degree programme or potential career path. You can apply what you have learnt at university to develop essential skills whilst working alongside industry professionals. Our successful placement programme will provide you with hands-on experiences and a range of transferable skills required in industry. This will strengthen your employability and help you to stand out when you apply for jobs.

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Politics and International Relations Placement Experience

Find out about Laura’s yearlong placement at Health Education England and how studying at Reading will benefit her for years to come.

Supporting your employability in Sociology

Learn about the career enhancing skills embedded into our Sociology courses and options for placements.

Student seeking support

Placement support

Our Politics and International Relations and Sociology's dedicated Placement Coordinator will guide you through the placement planning process by:

  • supporting you in identifying organisations and opportunities suited to you
  • teaching application and interview techniques to help you beat the competition
  • reviewing your CV and application forms
  • practising interview skills and building your confidence,
  • preparing you for tests and assessment centres
  • keeping your search on track and acting on feedback.

During your placement, you will be supported to ensure you get the best experience from your year in industry. You will also be able to take advantage of the support offered through the University’s Careers & Employability Service. You will be able to work with our dedicated careers consultant to plan your career from day one. You will also have access to a wide array of events to help you engage with employers, understand recruitment methods, and focus on your self-development. In addition, we encourage our students to develop their CV and network with professionals through various University schemes such as: 

  • RED Award
  • Star Mentoring
  • Thrive Mentoring
  • the Reading Internship Scheme
  • volunteering.

Contact Amanda Gill, SPPE Placement Co-ordinator on a.j.r.gill@reading.ac.uk.

You will also be able to take advantage of the support offered through the University’s Careers & Employability Service where you can participate in telephone and mock interviews and psychometric assessments (ability tests), to ensure that you are thoroughly prepared for the application process.

In addition, we encourage our students to develop their CV and network with professionals through various University schemes such as: 

  • RED Award 
  • Star Mentoring 
  • Thrive Mentoring 
  • The Reading Internship Scheme 
  • Volunteering

Placement providers

We have excellent links with industry, and you will have the opportunity to undertake work placements and to liaise with employers during your studies. The diversity of employers we work with and our stature means that we can help you find placements for a variety of career paths.

Many of our students are offered jobs from their placement providers once they have completed their placement.

Some of our placement providers include: 

  • BAE
  • SAP
  • BMW Financial Services
  • Department of Work and Pensions
  • Enterprise Mobility
  • Henley Business School
  • House of Commons
  • HP
  • Renishaw
  • SIXT
  • TD Synnex
  • Thames Water
  • University of Reading
  • Volkswagen Financial Services
  • Warwickshire County Council.

Employability Skills

Our sociology and politics and international relations courses are designed to develop your future career prospects by embedding essential employability skills within modules, such as: 

  • Utilising essential tools to efficiently manage your time and prioritise workload 
  • Gaining a taste of the different opportunities available for you after graduation through our regular series of events with a range of visiting speakers
  • Establishing valuable knowledge and learn to apply it using skills of analysis and problem solving, communication and presentation skills 
  • Developing your written skills through meaningful reports and essays 
  • Working effectively in groups to create a collective piece of writing or a presentation.

Work experience modules

The Department also offers two optional modules where you can gain desirable work experience through short-term placements. 

Summer Work Placement Module (open to Sociology, Politics and International Relations students) 

  • An opportunity to gain a breadth of industry experience with a professional organisation over a summer vacation; this earns academic credit and is taken in place of a taught module.

British Government and Politics Module (open to Politics and International Relations students) 

  • A Part 2 module in which students gain two weeks’ work experience, within a Member of Parliament’s offices or with a local charity or non-profit organisation.