Employer Profile - DASA

Defence Analytical Services Agency

Number of placement students taken on per year: Approximately 12

Positions available within the company? We usually take on placement students in between their second and final years. The work that they do varies from year to year but the jobs involve collation and collection of statistical data.

What is the process for recruiting placement students? We use students who are undertaking sandwich courses at university. So our first port of call is to apply to the universities for the students. We then ask students to complete application forms and then we interview them.

What are you looking for in a placement student? The main sorts of degree subjects that we look for are mathematical and statistical subjects, as the key skills that we need are numerical and analytical skills.

What does the placement involve? DASA provides professional analytical and statistical services and advice to the Ministry of Defence and defence-related statistics to Parliament, other Government departments and the public. Within the organisation we employ a mixture of statisticians, IT specialists and administrative staff. Placement students could expect to be involved in a lot of the areas that DASA work in.

What do you pay the placement students? The placement students start on the AO pay band, which begins at £12,700 per annum. We also offer recruitment and retention allowances as applicable.

What does your organisation get out of the experience? DASA regards the placement students as a valuable source of potential employees and we look to recruit those graduates with numerical and analytical skills.

How would you advise students to make the most of the experience? Simply gain as much experience of the workplace as you possibly can before returning to your course.