1-Year Analytical Sandwich Placement

Multiple UK Government departments have teamed up to offer a number of 11–13 month Operational Research placements. You must be studying for a highly numerate degree (e.g., mathematics, engineering, chemistry, and physics) and expecting to achieve a 2:1 or above. You must be in at least your second year of study and must be returning to university after completing your placement.

What is being offered?

We have year-long placement opportunities in locations across the UK. You will be a member of the professional body titled the ‘Government Operational Research Service’ and have the opportunity to gain professional and technical skills whilst working on some of the most interesting and pertinent problems currently facing the country. You will be working at the heart of central government and your conclusions will help shape national policy that will affect millions of people.

Our analytical teams cover a broad range of remits from dealing with resource allocation, workforce planning, forecasting, performance measurement, and strategic planning. Previous student projects have included:

• Informing impact assessments to provide balanced and objective views of the costs and benefits of policies.
• Designing a pilot study to test the impact of a new policy to increase the likelihood of unemployed people entering work.
• Analysing the impact of customer behaviour to identify different types of customers we interact with.

We offer opportunities to work with a wide range of customers and government analysts; working together to impact decisions made by senior officials.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for bright, forward-thinking students from numerate subject areas such as mathematics, physics, operational research, computer science, statistics, and engineering.

Being highly numerate is only the starting point for our student analysts; we expect you to build on your technical skills and work towards successfully influencing policy decisions by presenting your analysis effectively in meetings, producing written reports and giving oral presentations.

We take on students who are interested in learning modelling, statistical and computing skills and have the drive and personality to work effectively both on their own and in a team.

What’s in it for me?

You will have the opportunity to learn the skills required for professional life whilst working for organisations ranked in the top 10 graduate employers in the country as rated by the graduates themselves. The work will be high profile and you might find yourself working with requests from Ministers and other senior officials. You will:

• Work in departments promoting a healthy work-life balance and encouraging learning and development.
• Be exposed to multiple arms of government such as central policy, delivery of frontline services, finance, and long-term strategy.
• Work with a variety of professions including analysts, policy, delivery, and finance specialists.
• Have the opportunity to work across the UK.

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