The cream of students employers were last night celebrated at a prestigious awards ceremony at the Belfast Harbour Commissioners Office, to pay recognition to the companies across Northern Ireland that go above and beyond to provide high calibre placement and job opportunities for University students.

With over 155 companies nominated, including PWC and BBC, the competition for the top Placement Employer in Northern Ireland was fierce. We are extremely pleased to announce that Randox came in as one of the top 3 finalists for Ulster University’s Top Placement Employer of the Year, in the ‘nominated by an Ulster University Student’ category.

We caught up with Human Resources Officer, Jolene Jamison, who manages the Placement and Graduate Programme, about what it is that makes the placement experience at Randox so unique.

The Randox Placement Programme, by Human Resources Officer, Jolene Jamison

An in-depth induction

For students the Randox placement journey, from beginning to end, is the perfect transition from university life to the workplace.

When they arrive, the induction process is an important first step in easing students into what is for many, their first professional job.  It gives students an overview of the company, the company’s products and services, the ethos of the organisation, the responsibilities of their job role, the placement support on offer and the processes in place for feedback and evaluation.   The induction process also gives students an insight into the valuable contribution they can make to Randox and subsequently global health, by showcasing examples of previous placement students’ work.

Students also have the opportunity to meet with other employees and students across the company to develop an understanding of the wider Randox organisation. Each induction is tailored dependent on the role to be fulfilled, in order to help the student to gain an understanding of where they personally fit within the organisation, and so they experience a mix of presentations, seminars, interactive sessions and shadowing a supervisor, to gain insight into the responsibilities of their department.

We also make a preliminary assessment of each student’s capabilities in order to identify training and development needs throughout the duration of their placement.

A Supportive Environment

During placements with us our students are each supported by a dedicated placement co-ordinator and mentor, and meet with them every 3 months for review. 

At an initial review students outline the skills gained from their degree, identify their career goals, and agree a plan of action with their mentor. This ensures their skills are utilised during their placement, provides focus and direction and helps them on their chosen career path.

For each upcoming review period, each student’s strengths and any challenges they have encountered are identified, with new objectives set as part of an on-going review.  This helps highlight any training and development needs, enabling the placement co-ordinator to implement a training plan. 

The placement co-ordinator at Randox is responsible for the pastoral support of each student, and additionally, students are often paired off with a colleague in their department who helps with day-to-day support. 

All Randox student placements are financially supported; they receive an employment package similar to full-time employees including paid holidays and flexible working hours.

Helping students discover their goals and objectives

At Randox we are aware of the important contribution we can make in shaping a student’s professional career, which is why placement opportunities are offered to even those in their first year of university studies, through the Randox APEX Programme.

Students are encouraged to discuss their long term career goals with their placement mentor and manager, and are encouraged to pursue their own areas of interest.

Students are often involved in novel research projects, encouraging individual thinking, ideas generation and strong confidence in their ability. These novel research projects encourage placement students to get involved in the core company projects and voice their thoughts and ideas.  Working in such an environment can give placement students the opportunity to develop professional expertise in specialist areas.

The opportunity to make a real contribution

This year we were awarded with our Placement Employer Award specifically for the placement we provided for Business Student Meghan Sample.

Meghan made real contributions to Randox during her time here, and was involved in presenting a digital content marketing strategy to Marketing Management. This included strict guidelines to ensure consistency through all graphics, language used and tone of voice.  She then implemented this content marketing strategy via mail-campaigns, social platforms, web pages, insightful clinical market articles and whitepapers.

The results of Meghan’s digital content marketing strategy helped her and her team understand her value and the value of her work to the organisation.  Online engagement increased by a staggering 1,200%, web traffic by 256.91% and by quarter 3 of 2016, 100% of Randox RX Series sales to distributors and end-users originated from Meghan’s digital marketing campaign.

This not only gave Meghan a focus for her studies upon her return to university but a real understanding of how academic learning is put in to practice in the working world.  This project enabled her to find her passion and decide what area of work she wanted to pursue.

Letting students know that they’re doing well

We really value that students require support and encouragement and therefore we celebrate their achievements at a Student Placement Awards Ceremony, in which exceptional students who have worked hard, made outstanding contributions to the company, and excelled in general during their placement year are formally recognised.  This furthermore instils pride and self-esteem in the students that will encourage the continuation of their hard work and determination.

Meghan Semple joined Team Randox in September 2015 as a Marketing Placement student from Ulster University Business School, and left Randox as our Business Placement Student of the Year 2015-2016, an accolade that recognised her achievements and contributions to the company.

An exceptional experience

The placement student experience is second to none.  During their Randox placement, students are given the opportunity to be involved in ground breaking research and development, often working with pioneering technologies that are exported globally. 

Being entrusted to work individually on personal projects of such high calibre means that students can set and achieve impressive goals, instilling a strong sense of professional pride early in each student’s career. 

Being given their own tasks and responsibilities integrates students into the Randox workforce, performing duties of equal importance to graduate, part-time, full-time, new, and long-serving members of staff alike. 

For the duration of their placements, placement students are as involved in the running of Randox as any other member of staff and their contributions make a real difference.

Students are offered exposure to staff at varying levels and are involved in presentations to Management. They are offered the same opportunities as any other member of their team, as the fresh ideas and perspectives of Ulster University students are hugely beneficial and valued by Randox.  Many Randox students are offered full-time jobs upon completion of their degree, which shows the importance of Randox placements as a springboard into exciting and enjoyable careers.”

For more information about the Impact Excellence Awards, please contact randoxpr@randox.com

For information on what it’s like to work at Randox, visit http://www.randox.com/we-are-randox/ , or for current vacancies please visit http://careers.randox.com/