I mentor 3 students at University of Leicester (UOL) Engineering Department. I am an alumni from UOL and I worked with the department to set up the Industrial Mentorship Scheme. One of my mentees has found a year long industrial placement (definition). His industrial placement is in a different city to that where his university is.
He asked me about how did I find my accommodation when I got an industrial placement.
And I thought I could answer him but also write this blog to share the info with all prospective students who are looking for an accommodation before starting an industrial placement.
Accommodation options during industrial placement
It is very likely that you will find or have found industrial placement and need to move from your university city. The issue is, unlike countries like the US or Canada that offer housing for industrial type work – you may have found a placement that will help you earn, however you haven’t got that before you start your placement and yet have to put down a hefty deposit, pay the first month’s rent upfront and pay for the move!
Before you move, try this two options:
- Spareroom.co.uk
- HR office
Option 1 – Spareroom.co.uk … offers good accommodation for a good price
The good thing about Spareroom.co.uk is you rent a room with a live-in landlord (or in some cases the landlord only comes back over the weekend). You can search for 1000s of opportunities for flat-share.
The rooms offered on the site are decent and very competitively priced. I’ve tried them and I was introduced to the site by a friend of mine who used spareroom.co.uk as well.
Oh, and Spareroom does offer some quirky flat-shares like this one, in a £8m London property.
Option 2 – Speak to the HR office
When you have your industrial placement confirmed, ask the HR office for help with finding accommodation.
Just like you, there might be other graduates who were hired by the company and it is in the company’s interest to make sure it’s new employees settle in quickly. Sometimes HR office puts interns and graduates in touch with each other. This allows you to socialise and find information on accommodation, travel etc…
And if these don’t work out, then you have to go down the traditional route…
Option 3 – Rightmove.co.uk or Zoopla.co.uk
If you don’t get anywhere with option 1 or option 2 then you are back with traditional rental market. Both the sites Rightmove.co.uk and Zoopla.co.uk let you use their platforms to search for rental properties and connect with the agents.
p.s. here are some sites that can help you with finding industrial placements
- e4s (employment 4 students) – find industrial placement using the UK’s most visited student jobsite
- Indeed – you can find industrial placements on there too
- RateMyPlacement.co.uk – one of my favourite recommendations
