Work Placement

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Work Placement

• Bite Students
• Work Placement Spring 2007

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Work Placement
Work placement / Bite

• mandatory for all students
• 30 ECTS credit points (100 working days)
• prerequisites all mandatory studies completed
  - goal the student familiarises her-/himself
  with practical IT applications and SW
  development and maintenance practises
• assessment passed / failed

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NB! Must you do your work placement abroad?

• Note! Students having completed their senior
  secondary school (high school) or equivalent
  education in Finland and not having been exchange
  students abroad for a minimum of one semester
  during their studies in Helia have to complete
  their work placement abroad. Other students have
  a free choice in Finland or abroad.

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Appropriate Tasks
Work placement / Bite

• IT work supporting the studies
• programming
• system analysis, design and testing or similar
  development and maintenance tasks
• - project management
• PC- and network support- Maintenance of
  web-pages (preferably DB- connection)

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Timetables
Work placement / Bite
October About 150 letters to contact persons in
companies Fri 6.10. Work
placement briefing 6.10-5.11. Enrolment to
HAR03F5 13.11. Enrolment (I) changed to
accepted (H) if
prerequisites OK - rechecking monthly Spring
2007 Work placement of 100 working days
can be started earlier (NB. bank
holidays, like New Years Day, Epiphany, Good
Friday, Easter Monday, The first of May,
Ascension Day and Midsummer Eve are not
working days, )
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Finding the Job
Work placement / Bite

• It is the students responsibility to find the
  job
• Have a look at
• Jobstep there is a link on Helias web pages-
  Helias web Rekrytointi opiskelijat (in
  Finnish)- work placement reports in Helias
  library
• Member companies of Tietotekniikan liitto (The
  Finnish Information Processing Association, FIPA
  www.ttlry.fi- internet sites of companies-
  job advertisements in newspapers
• Companies to which Helia sends advertising
  letters (the list will be posted to those
  enrolled for the HAR03F)
• folder on the shelf in front of the Academic
  Advisors office (2014)
• Make use of your social network

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Tips

• Not only IT-companies have IT-jobs
• Remember e.g. schools, hospitals, government and
  municipal organizations, banks, different kind of
  companies (even cosmetic companies!)
• The majority (98 ) of companies are small and
  medium size companies
• Use your social networks
• Improve your skills in the Finnish language

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Tips
Work placement / Bite

• How to draw employers attention
• a tailored application (with your photo) and CV
• personal contact portfolio recognising
  your own personal strengths
• think what skills and knowledge you can offer
  the company

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Good application

• Cover letter and CV
• Cover letter is not a copy of CV
• Right task, right person
• Send early enough
• In the cover letter you tell how you match the
  requirements
• Tell only the relevant facts in a compact form
• Be informative and realistic
• Mind overstatement and personal stories
• Mind misspelling

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Good CV

• 1-2 pages, tailored for the task
• Clear structure
• Personal and contact information
• Education degree, institute, years studied,
  credit units, estimated time of graduation
• the latest at first
• Job experience the latest at first
• Language skills
• Technical skills
• (Hobbies)

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Skills valued by companies

• Problem solving skills
• Project work skills
• Team work skills
• Communication and language skills
• Network building
• Sense of responsibility

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Job interview How to prepare oneself

• Read the job advertisement carefully
• Get information about the company and the branch
• Think about your answers to the questions about
• Your motivation, interests, strong and weak
  sides, hopes for the future
• Be ready for difficult questions, e.g. about the
  weak progress in studies
• Carry your certificates in a folder in the
  chronological order
• Have your CV with you
• Think about the salary you would like to have
• Referees

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Job interview

• The important first impression
• Clothes, cleanliness, eye contact, hand shaking,
  greeting, voice
• Be convincing
• Answer clearly and logically, dont chatter
• Explain with examples
• Be truthful
• Ask for more information if needed

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Tradenomiliittos recommendations for work
placement and summer job salaries in 2006

• Credits (ECTS)        Recommendation  
• Less than 75 cr   1300 e/month
• 75 - 120 cr     1370 e/month
• 120 -165 cr    1470 e/month
• 165 - 210 cr     1700-2100 e/month 

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Students responsibilities

• evaluates the suitability of the tasks
  (coordinator checks this from the work
  placement notification)
• signs the work placement contract (Helias form
  in the web in the case the employer has not got a
  form)
• N.B.
• If you will be paid for your work placement, you
  will sign an employment contract and the company
  will insure you for accidents at work
• If you will not be paid, you will sign a trainee
  contract and Helia will insure you for accidents
  at work

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When Work Placement Agreed
Work placement / Bite

• Student
• informs the coordinator before the start of the
  work placement by e-mail with attached
  Notification of work placement (in the web) -
  notification has to be filled in carefully
• - count right the 100 working days - name of
  the mentor has to be mentioned (e-mail
  message)
• NB. An incomplete notification causes delay and
  extra work for all the parties.

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When Notification Received
Work placement / Bite
Coordinator - checks that the work is
suitable for Bite work placement -
delivers the notification to the mentor (Helias
named work placement counsellor) -
informs the student that the work placement is OK
- does not take care of the issues
concerning work placement any longer NB.
Coordinator does not handle insufficient
notifications. They will be returned to be
amended.
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Starting the Work Placement
Work placement / Bite

• - the student is allowed to start the work first
  when she/he has received an acceptance from the
  coordinator
• the work that has been started without following
  the procedure described above is not
  considered as work placement.

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Helias Named Counsellor
Work placement / Bite

• Mentor acting as a work placement counsellor
• is the contact person in Helia - takes care of
  the contacts to the student and the employer
  during the work placement- evaluates the work
  placement report and checks the reference
• NB. The normal rules (I.e. three working weeks
  from receiving the documents) are applied
  to the assessment of the work placement
  (marking the placement performance in
  WinhaWille or returning the report to be amended).

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During the Work Placement
Work placement / Bite
Develop yourself as a professional and an
expertConsider- what you are doing, how, why-
the impact of your work on the people involved
colleagues, customers, customers of the
customers, - what skills you should develop
further- what is important to you (do not forget
the ethical aspects)- consider the ethical
guidelines for ICT professionals
(http//www.ttlry.fi)
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During the Work Placement
Work placement / Bite
Make use of your experiences by transforming them
into knowledge and skills Consider- why things
happened like they did- what your role was - if
you could have done something in an other way
(what)- what kind of problems or conflicts you
met, how you solved them- what kind of
challenges you met
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Completing the Work Placement
Work placement / Bite

• Student
• completes the work placement according to the
  agreement- writes a work placement report
  (instructions in web)- delivers the report and
  reference containing employers assessment of
  the report to the work placement counsellor (
  mentor) within two weeks after the end of
  the work placement- attends the meetings to be
  called by the counsellor (during and/or after
  the work placement)

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Keep in Mind
Work placement / Bite

• work placement is part of your studies and you
  have to report on it
• work placement supports your learning
  reveals how the theory learned is applied in
  practice serves as a base for the advanced
  professional studies
• be aware of any possible subjects for your
  thesis
• deliver the report and reference without any
  delay to your counsellor
• you are regarded as a representative of Helia in
  your work place

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Subsidy
Work placement / Bite

• From the beginning of the year 2006 subsidy is
  available only for the students completing their
  work placement abroad.
• the agreement is made between Helia and the
  employer- the employer pays the salary (200
  euros 50 euros for social security costs/
  month, for maximum five months) and charges
  Helia once the work placement is completed- the
  subsidy is the only salary paid for the work
• Agree with your employer on the subsidy
  arrangement and fill in the applications before
  starting the work placement. Forms available
  from the work placement coordinator.

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Students Financial Aid (KELA)
Work placement / Bite
The full financial aid will be paid during the
work placement if the monthly salary is lt 505
euros summertime aid will be paid only if there
are at least 18 working days in a calendar
month in the certificate given from the
Students Affair Office for KELA purposes, the
length of the work placement is defined to be
max. 5 months NB. The student is responsible for
timing the work placement For further
details contact Anne Pippuri or have look at
Helias web.
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Contacting the Coordinator
Work placement / Bite
E-mail- give your name, student number and
contact information- have a title like work
placement, work placement notification, -
be prepared to wait for the response- do not
wait until the end of the term with urgent
issues Personal contact- do not try to handle
complicated issues by e-mail- if the office
hours do not suit to your timetable, settle an
appointment by e-mail
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Remember
Work placement / Bite
Work placement is part of your studies, so you
have to be enrolled for the academic term when
the work placement takes place!
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Work Placement - Learning
Work placement / Bite
Make sure you get the best possible use of the
work placement by considering and stating your
learning objectives. Learn from experience
reflect, reflect and reflect! Have a rewarding
work placement period and welcome back to the
school once youhave completed it.
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Replacing the Work Placement

• The work placement can be replaced if the student
  has work experience
• at least for one year (full time)- not more
  than for two employers- of tasks suitable for
  BITE work placement.
• Make an application for the replacement. (form in
  Bites web site)
• Original reference describing the tasks and
  working period is required.
• If the application is accepted, the student
  writes a report on the work experience.
• When wanting to replace the work placement,
  please contact the work placement coordinator.

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Your work placement coordinator

• Aila Koivisto-Junni
• Room 2014
• Email aila.koivisto-junni_at_helia.fi
• Tel. [phone]
• Office hour in the Autumn of 2006
• Tuesdays from 3.00 pm to 4.45 pm
• Or by appointment