Sheffield was always top of my list of cities I wished to study in, based on the opportunities available for students. It has not disappointed!

A profile photo of Lauren Sherborne
Lauren Sherborne
Hays Recruitment placement
BSc Psychology with Employment Experience
Lauren chose to spend a year on a paid work placement as part of her Psychology degree, gaining valuable work experience for worldwide recruitment company, Hays. Whilst developing transferrable skills such as communication and personal awareness, this year has also inspired Lauren to apply to commercial graduate schemes once she completes her studies

Sheffield was always towards the top of my list of cities I wished to study in, purely based on the opportunities available for students. It has not disappointed!

To further enhance my CV and to get a taste of the working world, whilst not wanting my time at University to end, I decided to change my course to ‘Psychology Degree with Employment Experience’ to complete a year in industry between 2nd and 3rd year.

After a long, intense selection process, I was offered a placement year at Hays, a worldwide recruitment company, based in Manchester city centre. During the year, I have been responsible for identifying, selecting and recruiting for the legal sector across the North West.


I have been given the same responsibility as any of the other consultants in the business and I constantly contribute to the teams targets each month – some consultants do not even realise I am on placement due to the level of responsibility that I have been given.

Lauren Sherborne

 BSc Psychology with Employment Experience


The opportunity has significantly improved my skills such as communication, professionalism and personal awareness - all of which will enhance my final year studying. This role has been incredible in terms of the experience I have gained.

I am constantly meeting new people, candidates and clients every day whilst leading interviews and client meetings.

I have been given the same responsibility as any of the other consultants in the business and I constantly contribute to the teams targets each month – some consultants do not even realise I am on placement due to the level of responsibility that I have been given.

I will be returning to Sheffield to complete the final year of my Psychology course in September and I am very excited to be going back.

I am mainly looking forward to completing my chosen modules and research project during my final year, due to having the freedom to tailor my course to the topics that particularly interest me.

I have chosen mostly neurological/criminal based options due to having a desire for working within a criminological field. I also plan to apply for graduate schemes within the North West.

From my placement I already know that I enjoy working in an office / business environment and a graduate scheme will allow me to rotate around different sectors of a business to find out what function suits me best.


Four students laughing while sat at a bench, outside the Students' Union

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