An increasing amount of research now relates to students who work part-time during third level study. The advantages and disadvantages of this situation have been widely discussed in the literature and positive aspects of part-time work relating to graduate employment are given in several recent reports. Almost nothing has been done, however, to view part-time working as a preparation for placement, either from a student or employer perspective. This paper attempts to rectify this failing and reports on surveys of pre- and post-placement students in the academic year 2002-2003. In addition, many of the employer partners who take our placement students were questioned about their attitude to part-time work appearing on curriculum vitae and their comments have proved both interesting and revealing.