Rate My Placement

Wednesday evening saw the announcement of the winner of the inaugural HSBC Unipreneurs competition. As you have probably heard (we have made quite a song and dance about it) we beat around 400 other entrants to make the final, alongside 4 other successful student-run companies, vying to win the £20,000 prize.
 
As part of the final we were booked into the 5* Le Meridien hotel in Piccadilly, one of the swankiest hotels in London and far too good for the RateMyPlacement team. Keen to make the most of it we checked in at 2 o’clock and spent most of the afternoon swimming in the largest indoor pool in central London and relaxing in the Jacuzzi. Prior to the event itself we were given a show round the BAFTA theatre and introduced to our fellow competitors. We were then taken to a little room where we were to be held under the watchful eye of the organisers, presumably to ensure we didn’t get stuck into the free Champagne before our appearance on stage (shame they didn’t do the same to one of the panel). The format of the night was a 10 minute Q&A with the panel trying to find out more about our businesses, after which the audience of 200 delegates then voted for the company they thought deserved to win. We were told that the panel would only ask us some friendly questions about how well we had done to get where we were today; unfortunately Peter Jones (Dragons Den) and Wayne Hemingway (Red or Dead) didn’t see it that way. RateMyPlacement were last on stage and we watched as our fellow competitors sweated it out under the grilling. The more we watched, the keener we were to get on stage and tell everyone about the website.

 We decided to keep the winning team of Ali and Chris, who got us through the semi-final, to go on stage. We were formally introduced to the audience by the lovely Jenni Falconer (one member of the RMP team managed to get 4 kisses from her and hasn’t washed since) who brought some much needed glamour to the evening. The next 10 minutes seemed like a bit of a blur. I remember Peter Jones gently welcoming us to the stage before picking our finances to pieces, and sadly one of the judges claimed that students could do what we do on YouTube! We don’t really think that the judge had grasped the idea of the site.
 
After our appearance on stage, the audience were asked to vote and the company with the most votes would win. So the result… Unfortunately it wasn’t us celebrating with an over-sized cheque for £20,000 but congratulations go to Scratch Face, a company who enable people with colour blindness to see website and computer programmes as the designer meant them to be seen. Also well done to Aspect Communications who put on a cracking event and got a lot of press coverage for us.

Bookmark It

Just three days now until the final of the HSBC Unipreneurs Awards at the BAFTA Theatre in London! We’ll be up on stage in front of 200 specially invited delegates, and will be given a grilling by a celebrity judging panel including Peter Jones from Dragon’s Den!

As part of reaching the final, ourselves and the other finalists are being put up in this rather swanky 5* Hotel in Piccadilly! We’re still students at heart, so will be sure to take full advantage of the facilities, mini-bar, and free toiletries.

The audience will be voting for who they think should be crowned the UK’s number one Unipreneur and take home the cheque for £20,000, so fingers crossed for RateMyPlacement. Either way, it should be an awesome night, and the inevitable hangover on Thursday will no doubt be worth it! Be sure to check back on Thursday to find out how we got on.

Bookmark It

HSBC Unipreneurs Awards 2008 - designed to "find the face of young entrepreneurship in Britain" - and that face could be RateMyPlacement!

We have just been informed that we have been selected as one of the final 5 young businesses! The judges have selected us from hundreds of entries as one of the five most promising ‘unipreneurs’ and we are now just one step away from winning £20,000!

This is an amazing achievement for us, and we are obviously delighted to have reached the final. It is things like this that make the many, many hours of work late into the night and at weekends worthwhile.

The final takes place at a gala evening at the BAFTA theatre in London on April 23rd. The five National Finalists will be quizzed on-stage before a live audience, who will then vote for the business that has impressed them most – and name the winner of HSBC Unipreneurs 2008.

So it’s time to dust off the tuxedos (probably get them dry-cleaned too as I’m pretty sure the last time they were worn was our Graduation Ball at Uni!), prepare and practice our presentation skills, and go for it!

Bookmark It

A day out in Brighton, and the chance to meet careers and placement officers from over 40 universities? Yes please… Oliver and Ali got up early on Wednesday to drive an hour and a half to get to Brighton nice and early. Luckily it was an absolute cracker of a day, and the RateMyPlacement office moved to the beach, and then the pier, for the morning.
 
In the afternoon it was our turn to present an update of the website, and our plans for the future, to the members of PlaceNet (network of university placement officers). The first time we presented at the PlaceNet conference the website was just 2 months old and it proved the catalyst that has meant we now have students from 104 universities signed up to the site. A year ago, we were little more than just a concept and we were received with some trepidation, however many of the PlaceNet members have been keen to promote us to their students.
 
Again, we were given some really good feedback from the delegates and now have plenty of good ideas as to how we can work closer with placement officers in the future. Also present at the conference were Dr Harry Kelly from GlaxoSmithKline, James Rainbird from IST Plus (offering international work experience) and Gary Argent from Logica. We are hoping to work closely with all these companies in the future.

Bookmark It

The findings of a number of recent student focus groups - organised by the government to “account on problems in higher education that students want to see resolved” – have been announced.

Significantly, for RateMyPlacement, the focus groups have highlighted a growing concern amongst students regarding employability issues. Many fear that having a degree is not going to be enough to secure good graduate employment, and that they’ll be forced into postgraduate study at further expense.

The findings also highlight that students would like to see more emphasis on career guidance and graduate opportunities, including a “more systematic approach to work placements” and internships.

Hopefully the government will be taking notice of these findings and encouraging more students than ever before to partake in placements and internships!

Bookmark It

It was only a matter of time before Hollywood came calling… or something like that.

As a result of us reaching the final of the HSBC Unipreneurs Competition, we were required to spend a day in front of the cameras to produce a short film that will be shown on the evening of the final.

We spent a day back in sunny Loughborough to put together the film, and it was a great laugh. I’m not sure any of us are destined for a career on TV though!

Click here to see some photos of the day.

Bookmark It

Congratulations to Jack Mayall from Leeds University…

…who has won our 1st birthday competition, and a cheque for £365 courtesy of the RateMyPlacement team!

Jack, pictured here on the right celebrating his prize, may have said:

"RateMyPlacement.co.uk has changed my life! With the extra cash I’m going to have an amazing summer term up here in Leeds!"

Jack sent our birthday email to over 800 people, an amazing effort, and the RateMyPlacement Team think he thoroughly deserves the prize money.

Bookmark It