Careers
Hunting for work experience
What can you do and why?
Benefits of Gaining Work Experience.
Most employers expect graduates to have some experience of the world of work. It provides them with evidence of your skills such as team working, communication and commercial awareness. It also shows that you can organise yourself and prioritise conflicting demands.
Making your CV stand out from the crowd
The increase in the number of new graduates means that it is now more important then ever to show potential employers you have been proactive at University to develop transferable skills that can be used in the workplace.
Bridge the gap between University and full-time work
Working 9 ’til 5 is a world away from University life. To prepare yourself for what to expect and what will be expected of you every bit of work experience will be of benefit to you.
Test out your career options
Do you think you have a good idea of the profession you want to work in? Why not obtain work experience in this field to make sure it’s the right choice for you? It’s never too late to change your career path but the sooner you are able to get a clearer picture the better.
Work with a variety of people, not just your peers
Work experience provides you with the chance to learn from others who have years of experience within an organisation or sector. It will give you the opportunity to speak to individuals about career choices and how they were able to progress up the job ladder.
Earn Money
Paid part-time, vacation work or sandwich placements can provide you with the opportunity to develop ‘employability’ skills while earning essential funds to support your studying.
What can you do?
The opportunities are endless, and do not believe that only work experience linked to your degree is of any value.
Paid term-time and vacation work
Even if the prime reason to take a part-time or a vacation job is to help you pay your way through your degree, you will learn new skills and develop transferable skills.
Voluntary work
www.do-it.org.uk - The home of volunteering on the web.
www.wwv.org.uk - WorldWide Volunteering has an online database of 350,000 volunteering opportunities in 215 countries, including the UK.
Vacation placements and internships
These are paid opportunities, often lasting for a number of weeks during the summer vacation. Competition for these placements is fierce and early application is crucial:
www.gapyear.com - Provides information, help and advice for students who want to take a Gap Year.
www.placenet.org.uk - PlaceNet is a registered UK charity that actively promotes the benefits of work experience.
Industrial placement
If your course includes a year out in industry, you will gain invaluable experience whilst working. Competition for industrial placements is increasing and it is important that you apply early and prepare yourself as you would for a graduate job.
Work-shadowing
Usually unpaid, you have the chance to observe or ‘shadow’ someone at work. This gives you an insight into a particular function and some understanding on how the organisation operates. It is also a very useful way of gaining experience in careers into which entry is difficult or extremely competitive such as law. Work shadowing is often arranged informally by contacting individuals or organisations directly.
Where to look for Work Experience
Please look at www.work-experience.org - the National Council for Work Experience: Promoting, supporting and developing quality work experience for the benefits of students, organisations and the economy.
Other useful publications to look for Work Experience are
- Focus on Work Experience, published by CSU
- TARGET Woprk Experience published by GTI
- Doctorjob published by GTI
The Hobsons Work Experience Guide published by CRAC
-
Law Fairs
Law fairs offer you an initial safe look at law firms. They are your chance to meet real lawyers and graduate recruiters, to quiz them about their firms and get a general impression of how to get a job or work experience.
At Law Fairs you can speak to someone about the:
- size and culture of the firm;
- types of client and range of business;
- location (ie, London or the regions);
- style of training and range of experience offered to trainees;
- opportunities for trainees in firms with overseas offices.
Work Experience in Small and Medium Enterprises
As 98% of companies in the UK are this size a lot of students can gain very satisfactory work experience in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME's). SME’s have less than 250 members of staff and there are numerous reasons to contact SME’s for future work experience:
- there may be less competition for vacancies with SME’s;
- you may be given a wide range of responsibilities early on in your career;
- generally speaking SME’s are more likely to respond positively to less formal ways of applying such as word of mouth recommendations or a speculative application or CV.
Reflecting on your Work Experience
During your work experience we recommend that you make notes about your responsibilities and the skills you are learning and developing in your role so that you can use these notes in future applications and interviews.
Liz Hollins
Coventry University Careers Service
04-01-2010
