EOY Recap

As the last bank holiday till August is upon us with a promise of parties and rest for all placement students, back in Aston it is the last exam week. The library is full with students on the verge of insanity eagerly preparing for their last exams. As my second year mates say, "the last exam is the hardest one". I think this has to do not only with the subject of the exam but also with the summer utopia that everyone who finished their exams already have created; it has to do with the end-of-year parties that the student guild has organised; it has to do with the buzz around the lake that seems endless throughout the hot months; and, of course, it has to do with the moving out preparations that everyone is struggling with...

Unfortunately, doing my internship has isolated me from the whole experience that is the end-of-year. But not one can stay away from Aston for too long. That is why on Tuesday I am off to join the Aston crowd in a week of celebration of the last exam. More to be reported soon.

EOY - end of year

Astonbury 2010 (tickets)

For everyone who could not go to the guild and queue tickets are sold online here: http://www.astonguild.org.uk/astonbury/events/index.php?page=event&event_id=457683

Astonbury 2010 (lineup)

Here is the announced lineup for the event:

Mr. Hudson
Roll Deep
The Hoosiers
Gracious K
Portlan
Sick City Club
Heroica
The After Hours
Kredz
Wildkatz
Bhangra Society
Essence
SPD
And many more!

Astonbury 2010 (update)

Tickets will be on sale tomorrow in the guild!

Online sale will be available for everyone who could not make it later this week.

More updates are to come. The pull-in of the dates is great, though.

Astonbury 2010

It is end of year time again but it is not just exams coming up. The biggest party fling is upon us - Astonbury. Tickets for Astonbury will be sold online from the 31st May. The event itself will take place on the 13th of June after all exams have been done with.

Aston is year on year voted one of the best university from a student social life perspective. The student guild execs make sure every year there are numerous massive parties with famous performers. This 24 hr even will combine the whole year into one.

Last year we had all upcoming artists in Aston, including Daneo, Taio Cruz, The Futureheads, Guru Josh Project, Chipmunk and more. Who will be performing this year, some top secret info is on its way.

The Countdown to Destruction

It is official people, the D&L towers are going down. The current announced date is 8th May 2011. I present to you The Countdown to Destruction!

GRADUATE EMPLOYERS TOLD TO SCRAP 2.1 MINIMUM

While in my second year I spent some time interviewing final year Aston students on their expectations and decisions for the future. The majority were, of course, worried about finding a job after graduating. Always being a hot topic, here is an article on graduate hiring that I just got my hands on.

A poll of more than 600 students and graduates by Milkround.com found 58 percent want graduate employers to scrap this minimum requirement where it is used.

They want recruiters to understand job suitability cannot be judged solely on degree classification.

Many graduate employers use a 2.1 degree as a benchmark for their recruitment: unless candidates have or are expecting a 2.1 degree they won’t even be considered for a role if they have desirable skills such as relevant experience.

When submitting applications online, 2.2 and third class degree graduates will often be rejected after an initial batch of screening questions, preventing them from giving evidence of their potential employability beyond academic achievement.

Commenting on 2.1 minimum requirements, one respondent said: "The achievement of a 2.1 is arbitrary in terms of grading as some institutions award marks much more liberally than others."

Another added: "There should be a substitute for people who did not achieve a minimum 2.1, such as a strong extra-curricular background or likewise."

Eva Malecki, Graduate Recruitment Manager at Centrica, said: "We do not have a 2:1 cut-off as we believe that accepting applications from graduates with a 2:2 or above will enable us to attract and assess a larger, more diverse graduate pool, especially as the value of a degree classification can vary from one institution to another. To secure the best talent for our business, we look beyond a degree classification; job history, activities and interests outside of university and competency based examples are just as important to show us that an applicant has skills beyond their degree."

However, among the 42 percent who think the 2.1 minimum requirement should not be scrapped, one said: "If the minimum requirement is scrapped students won't try so hard and become lazy knowing that getting a graduate job won't be as competitive. This is a waste of taxpayer's money and a decision which would punish those who work hard to achieve success.” Another added: “Even if you get a 2:2 for your first degree and that you're not qualified for applying for most big organisations, this is not the end of the world: it just means that you have to stay strong and put in extra effort."

Milkround.com spokesperson Mike Barnard said: "Graduates who don’t have a 2.1 degree will always be frustrated by its appearance as a minimum requirement, but recruiters are facing far more applications than ever before as the demand for jobs is high: a 2.1 minimum is a simple way to cut applications down, save time and get a highly academic candidate.

"However, any recruiter who enforces their 2.1 minimum risks missing out on non-academic talents that could be vital to a role but not associated with the level it says they achieved on their degree certificate. No institution is the same so it’s also important recruiters understand a 2.1 degree from one university may not be comparable to a 2.1 degree from another."

Milkround News, 28 April 2010

Internship Recap

It is without any further notice that I have just been reminded that in precisely 100 days my placement will be over. It has definitely bee one of the best experiences I have ever had. Thinking back on it now I didn't even plant to go on a placement in the first place; I decided to change my course after freshmen year. I would have lost on so many experiences and adventures. As much as I have developed as a person in high school and university, this year "in the industry" (to quote the Aston placement newsletters) has thought me everything about real-life business experience that I could possibly want. Before I would have studied so many aspects of my current job but would hesitate to call in a conference call (or any call for that matter), now it is a tiny part of my daily routine. What is most valuable, though, is the look into my strengths and weaknesses that I got through the feedback my colleagues and managers gave me. When you receive a low grade in uni there is always someone to blame it on but when you are told "hey, this part of your job has to improve" the ball is strictly in your field. Similarly, a high grade is often regarded as luck but there is nothing lucky about securing a million dollar deal and hearing a "good job" from your colleagues. It is this type of comments, advices and help that will make me miss all the people I am currently working with. What is more the way I have been accepted in into the society has been amazing. I have rarely had a party-less week. When I leave the company doors in three months I will feel like I am not just leaving a job but that I am leaving friends behind.

Moving-In//Moving-Out (definitely moving in)

Could I BE more absent minded and absorbed in daily routine?

As usual I totally forgot to keep checking my status for the Lakeside Application. God, I have been wanting to live there for three years now. Well, I was saved by the bell, or more specifically by an Aston accommodation offices who kindly reminded me that I am yet again late with a deadline. Just picture me sitting on a kitchen table at 1 o'clock in the morning, just coming home from a leaving due, sweating in front of my laptop screen having read this angel-of-a-lady's email. Yes, quickly remembering all my credentials to log in and, yes, without a glimpse of a thought paying the deposit as if saying to the accommodation office - "too late to decline me now!".

Well, for what is worth I got the Lakeside room and could not be happier. The only "moving" problem now is transporting all my stuff from Swindon to Birmingham. I guess you should be expecting a post about the warehouse services of the uni :P

Placement Essay (Finito)

I can finally say that the placement essay is done with and submitted. It was a hard week doing the final touches. The writing of the essay actually took just as much as the revising and editing since there were so many guidelines I had to follow; special covers, abstract, references, content, graphs, tables... it was a nightmare. Especially, since I totally underestimated the time it would take me to make the essay into a final product that can be submitted. Anyway, I managed to submitted by post on time and it was all fine. One tiny detail, however, skipped my mind (and I am saying tiny but it was of utter most importance) - the essay had to be submitted online. Silly me, of course, got absorbed with work and friends, and planning my holiday that I totally forgot that this was due at all. Partly, I think I was so satisfied how I had finished so much earlier than my mates that I stopped thinking about uni work whatsoever.

So, I was sitting on my desk having my quick lunch before I run to gym when the light bub came on and I realized how foolish I had been. Luckily for me I had a copy of the essay on my work laptop so I just uploaded it (20 minutes past deadline). Then I panicked; all that hard work, for nothing! I quickly called the coursework office and being lunchtime no one answered. A soothing sun ray, however, arrived in the form of a confirmation letter in just a few days. Yet again, I had been prepared to pack my bags, go back home and work in M&S until the rest on my life. But Aston works in mysterious ways. I think what I am most often forgetting is that one the other side of the phone there is an actual human being and they do listen to my voice mail apology. What is more, it is high time I understood that my lecturers, tutors and all the staff at uni are just there to help me. Now all that is left is for that bloody essay to live up to its potential. I hope I've done well enough. Results to be revealed in a couple of months.

Placement Essay (Crisis Averted)

This weekend I finally managed to finish the introduction for my essay. I have made an action plan and now all I need to do is follow the steps and continue writing. I have given myself a deadline of EOM (end of month).

Step one of my action plan is interview employees of Company X on essay topic. Until now everyone has been really helpful so this should be easy enough. I guess this is kind of similar to the interviews I did for The Times 100 Recruiters. At least I will finally have an answer to a question that has been wobbling my head - can you get any useful information from a non-written source?

Bonus, Bonus, Bonus !!!

Placement year is just awesome. I just found out there is another bonus coming up. When I was applying for the placement, I though: "Hugh will pay the bills" but wow I have been paying much more. I have already had three bonuses since I Started work and there are rumours of a third. I am just so impressed how students are taken so seriously and treated as full-time employees. Should keep working hard and get even more (so greedy already).

Placement Essay (Crisis, Crisis!)

My netbook broke down last week and with it all my research is gone for good. Two moths of work are now stuck in an UN-bootable device and as the computer company support people said "there is no guarantee that any of [my] data will survive". As you can imagine been the ignorant positivist that I am, I have not backed up any of the data. It is just sensible that we come to...

TIP NUMBER 11 FOR ASTON (PROSPECTIVE) STUDENTS: Backup all your data!

Coming back to my story. I was doing a recap and action plan of what to do next. First, I have mentioned most of the research in the proposal that I handed in to my tutor and the placement office, that still ought to be in my sent files. Then, I can just start having fun with the most amazing Aston tool ever - the e-library. This has saved me so many times now that I should say: "God bless the kind people from the Library services for creating the e-library!"

The e-library is an add-in to our online uni account that let us access journals, essays, etc. 24-7 no matter where we are in the world. In basic terms the site is like a search engine with all a student needs (especially one that needs to do coursework research).

So I guess this week will be my week of research fun. One of the best thing about Company X is that the let me do uni work while on the job so I can just book one hour in my calendar each they and spend it in the "library". Of course, I will keep you posted.

Moving-In//Moving-Out (continued)

I have completed my application for the uni accomodation for the final 2010-2011 year. Everything seems to have changed already since I started attending Aston. The towers will be gone by the time I graduate and last week I could only apply for Lakeside and Stafford. What is most interesting, though, is that the new dorms will be opened for first tennants. Living in only a five bedroom flat in an en-suit room will change uni experience entirely. A part of me misses the old times when we had to queue for the bathroom in Dalton and when we used to crowd in the kitchen. It looks like the final year will be a totally different experience (a quite posh'er one for sure).

One thing has not changed, though - when you apply for the uni dorms you can just select your preferences but may not be allocated in your first choice. This saves the excitement so familiar from the first year and brings me back to when I was pre-UK'ish. Anywho, I have to get back to work since, even though I am alowed to allocate time for university related matters in the office, I do not want to exploit company resources too much.

Moving-In//Moving-Out

In every student's life there comes a time of the year (and I mean every year) when he/she has to move to a new flat. This is inevitable and here are the reasons why:

• if you live in dorms the first year of uni you need to move out the second (0nly first, final and international students are allowed to live in the dorms)
• if you go on a placement or exchange (and most students do) you will need to move, again, to the town (and/or country) you are going to work/study at
• when you go back to uni in the last year you are bound to not leave on the streets

Thus, my tail begins. For the past three years I have been moving every summer and applying for new flats every February. The first year it was Dalton. (Good old Dalton will be torn down sooner or later so thank God I have photos of it to remember it by.) The second year it was Aston Brook Green (My impeccably dirty house was the coldest place on earth.) This year my Swindon flat in Gordon Gardens. (Finally some comfort and heat.)

So, as you may have already guessed now I need to decide and apply for a new apartment. The more I think about it the more I see that living at uni just seems to be the best offer there is. So, Aston Accommodation office my application is on the way.

Top 20 Placement Companies

Here is something useful for all students applying for or wanting to go on placement. The top 20 Employers for 2010 were determined yesterday. Here I give you the top 10 with ratings:

1. Microsoft 8.35
2. Grant Thornton 8.20
3. BDO 8.19
4. KPMG 8.09
5. Intel 7.96
6. PWC 791
7. BAE 7.91
8. Morgan Stanley 7.87
9. BAE Systems 7.80
10. Pinsent Masons 7.76

It is great that Aston has connections with most (if not all) of those employers. I have friends working in almost all of the top 20 companies. You can see the full list by following the link below:

http://www.ratemyplacement.co.uk/articles/top-20-employers/

Placement Essay (The Proposal)

After a lot of time loss and inefficiency I have managed to spend the time since New Years in writing my Placement Essay proposal, that I handed in last week. Actually (I know it sound fallacious) I have had so much fun writing the proposal. I think that maybe it is the working nine till five routine that has got me missing uni and writing the proposal I felt like I was back in Dalton again trying to finish one of the economics courseworks.

What is to follow now is writing the actual essay and although I have already done all the research there is one last thing I need to take care of - the interviews. As an option for the essay research I can take interviews with employees of company "X"that are connected or working in the field/problem I am writing about. This out to be fun, I mean, I enjoyed the last interviewing job I had so much last year. So, the placement essay adventures must continue...

Working From Home

Our modern world allows us to have a special kind of a working day best known as working from home. Here is how the day starts:

08:03 - Trying to get the wireless on my work laptop to work

08:38 - Wireless finally on, now need to connect to company network

08:42 - Computer not working at all - restarting...

08:51 - Finally connected to work network

...let the working from home start!

... i have managed to read through some of the material. Concentrating has been so hard with all the distractions around me. Anyway, tomorrow is the only day that I will be working from home. More on working from home tomorrow.

... two days later I haven't done much :(