In Conversation With: Jack Pearce, Industrial Placement Student

We’re dedicated to investing in students and young people. That means going beyond offering a great place to live, but also giving them the opportunities and skills they need to achieve their goals.

Our Industrial Placement learning programme offers students the opportunity to gain valuable industry experience. It’s been named as 7th in the 2024’s ‘Best 50 Small-Medium Sized Placement Schemes’ according to student reviews on RateMyPlacement.

Here, our User Experience (UX) Design Industrial Placement Student, Jack Pearce, shares more about his experience on our Early Careers programme, during his time studying Graphic Design at University of Portsmouth, and why it’s important for companies to offer paid work experience opportunities to students and young people.

Q: What sparked your interest in the Unite Students industrial placement scheme?

Unite Students was my first choice when it came to placements, as its brand promises to create a home where you have “room to thrive” and that really connected with me. This was down to my own drive and determination to succeed, but I hadn’t yet fallen in love with my field of Graphic Design until I came to Unite Students and met the team I now work with.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you’ve found your time at Unite Students and what skills you’ve learnt?

Since I joined the UX team back in August 2023, I have been always busy. Working within the app and web team, learning to better my skills in software such as Figma, Adobe AfterEffects, ProtoPie and more.

I have to thank the team for supporting me and teaching me the skills I will use for the rest of my career. I can now say that I have found my favoured avenue to venture down during my design career and that’s all thanks to the Academy – our lifelong learning and development programme – team for giving me the opportunity in the first place. And again, massive thanks to Geoff Meston, Will Dawson, Pop Letheren, Andreea Muntean and Vicky McIntyre for making me feel at home here!

I would say the project that I benefited most from was during my time in the app, working with Pop. She showed me how to correctly work with the brand guidelines, animation, and more. Teaching me parts of animation within Figma, prototyping tricks, as well as how to manage stakeholders and ask questions to receive the answers needed.

The opportunities I have received here range from a trip to Manchester to support the team at Rockstar Presents Parklife, to playing rounders up at Clifton Downs to raise money for charity! Opportunities seem endless here, and the team will always push you to achieve greatness.

As you mentioned, Unite Students sponsored Rockstar Energy Presents Parklife music festival earlier this year – how was your time volunteering there?

The opportunity to volunteer at Parklife festival was a highlight for me! We met lots of people, mostly students, who were full of character! As we were right next to the stage called The Hanger, there was never a quiet moment, with a constant flow of people walking around and visiting our stand.

My main highlight on Saturday has to have been getting to know the team properly and just enjoying the sunny weather! The overall interaction with the stand seemed to be very positive, smashing our KPIs for the day whilst meeting new people.

Sunday somehow was even better, given that we only had 7 hours instead of the previous 8 to hit the targets, we still absolutely smashed them, beating the previous day’s total. The Hanger was busier on Sunday, with more footfall and more conversations with the festival-goers! Talking about my time at Unite Students, university, and the festival.

I learnt a lot about the importance of branding at the festival andhad an amazing weekend up in Manchester, showing off Unite Students as a brand and allowing the people of Rockstar Presents ParkLife to have a free GIF and a good time when visiting us! Hopefully the next placement students get to experience this interesting event. This weekend has benefited my communication, teamwork, and adaptability skills and I can’t thank the organisers enough for allowing me to come and support the team. The weekend lived above and beyond my expectations.

Do you have any advice for our next cohort of Placement Students?

My piece of advice to any students going into the world of work, would be to always be happy to try new things, always ask questions and never be afraid to say hello to new people. Building this social network of people is super important as it gives you incredible connections to the industry, as well as possible lifelong friends.

Looking back at your placement time with us, do you have some favourite moments that you’d like to share?

I think one of my favourite must be playing rounders during my first week at work. Meeting new people, having a laugh, and a bit of healthy competition! This set the tone for my placement; it has always been entertaining. The lovely work environment, working with different teams across the company, spending time with the team and others.

Why do you think it’s important for Unite Students, and other organisations to offer students paid industrial placement opportunities?

Having a paid industrial placement to offer, means that there is a lot of competition when applying for these roles! Being paid a competitive wage creates a sense of maturity and you feel more adult.

I couldn’t be more grateful for my time here at Unite Students, they have set me up for the rest of my life! The skill set I now have is above par and will help me thrive through my last year at university and throughout my career as a UX/UI Designer.

Thank you, everyone, at Unite Students.