Returning From Work Placement

24th Sep 2004

With most college students either already back at the grindstone or due to go back next week we should be due another bout of fine weather before the winter misery sets in. In a matter of weeks Barracka and Washington St. will be buzzing until 3am every weeknight.

Many students will have "found themselves" over the summer of course. That special human feeling where one shakes off the last of the teenage angst and goldy sovereigns and becomes a mature adult. This can often be narrowed down to a single moment. Be it whilst surveying breath taking views from a mountain peak in California, meeting feens who live in forests in South America or whilst enjoying a 99 cent video in a booth in Boston.
Have compassion however for those who were not so lucky. No, we're not going to bang on about the financially disadvantaged but rather those who are shipped out to companies around Ireland for the dreaded placement or co-op. A lucky few make it to another country but the majority stay put.

Students of computer courses, engineering and science are the most at risk - sent out to industry to find out what happens to people when they finish their education.

The prospect of doing a placement while one's friends live it up in America for the summer isn't always as daunting as one might think. Most students will only have worked menial minimum wage jobs: serving chips to drunks, dragging muck around a building site or collecting glasses in some bar in town.

The months leading up to the summer can be hectic with interviews and presentations by so many companies. They are usually represented by a wide smiling dolled up HR woman. The professional camera shots in the brochures will feature attractive smiling young adults looking like their having a great time in their bright clean work environment. All the old dolls will be flahs too!

Mmmm'