Kirstin:  A lot of the students I support at MMU have two placement searches, the first is accessing the vacancies that we advertise, along with an independent placement search that may be focussed on a specific niche sector, or organising an overseas placement.  The latter search always requires excellent networking skills to ensure a successful outcome is achieved.  The first question I always ask our students is ‘do you have a good selection of networking contacts?’, and if not, I give them the tools to make those tentative steps towards networking.  I am a huge fan of LinkedIn and it has proven to be an effective networking tool in my current role, it works on so many levels, networking, career development, and business development, along with sharing best practice.  For anyone keen to improve their networking skills, this article may help http://careers.theguardian.com/careers-blog/how-to-network-effectively-who-are-your-contacts  #LinkedIn