Plenty of students spend their industrial training photocopying documents and leave with a signed logbook and nothing else. The difference between that and a placement that changes your career is mostly decided in the two months before you start.
Start earlier than you think
The good placements are gone months ahead. Companies that run structured programmes open and close applications on a schedule, and by the time your department reminds you, the intake has filled.
What to send
- Your school introduction letter, which the department issues on request
- A one page resume, single column, no photograph
- A short covering email that names the specific team you want to sit with and why
If you land somewhere with no plan for you
It happens often. The fix is to be useful in a specific way rather than waiting to be assigned. Ask one person what takes up their time, then offer to take a piece of it. A student who reduces somebody's workload gets pulled into real work within a fortnight.
Keep your logbook honestly and weekly. Written the night before submission, it shows, and it costs you marks that were free.