Work Experience Worked Out
Everyone does work experience these days, but how many make a lasting impression? Amy Swales gets some pointers to starting out on the right foot.
Forget the image that just presented itself when you read the words ‘work experience’. Forget when, at the age of fourteen, you spent two weeks elaborately making ten different kinds of tea in a nondescript office, or sweeping the hairy floor of a second-rate salon. Work experience is not just working your ass off for free: at this point in your life it can be a valuable introduction to the working world, and if you’re lucky, a door opener too.
After university is over, whether you have a set idea about your career path or not, look into the opportunities in and around the fields you’re interested in. Although many companies offer full graduate schemes, these can be hotly contested placements and are a definite step on the job ladder.
Work experience is a useful insight into the industry you might be working in and serves not only to help you decide if that business or role is right for you, but it might introduce you to some great contacts.
“We recognise work experience and internships as fantastic opportunities for both our firm and the potential candidate,” says Claire Holden, Account Director at PR Consultancy Hill & Knowlton. “We get to meet lots of fresh new talent and candidates get a real experience of the work place and something really solid to put on their CV.”
Even when the exact job you want isn’t available to experience in its full glory (let’s face it, Channel 4 were never going to let you present ‘Deal or No Deal’), try applying for something in that area – if you want to work in television, research the positions on the studio floor, or in the offices.
It’s all about getting your foot in the door and making a good impression. “We keep in contact with many of the candidates and some of our most valued members of staff were employed here as a result,” says Claire.
Try to do everything to the best of your ability, and if you don’t know how to do something – ask. It’s much better to appear interested and willing to learn.
“The qualities we relish most at Hill & Knowlton is passion and commitment,” says Claire: “We want work experience candidates to be enthusiastic, willing to get stuck in and demonstrate a hunger to learn.”
Despite work experience being a great foot in the door, employment is by no means guaranteed. If you don’t take it seriously, then you won’t make the impression you’ll need to move forward.
The golden rules of work experience etiquette are basic; dress appropriately for the role, turn up on time, pay attention. No one is going to offer a job to someone who sat around picking their nose for a couple of weeks.
Claire’s tip? “The ultimate faux pas would be to be disinterested.” Employers can afford to be choosy over who they give these opportunities to, and if you’re not interested in the job then you’re not worth the hand holding. The saying might be as archaic, but it still rings true: you only get back what you put in.
Even if you move onto a different field, the pros are still there: speaking as an employer, Claire says, “Hill & Knowlton always recognises the value of work experience and internships on potential employees' CVs.”
The period between graduating and having to find a job to pay the bills is likely to be the only time of your life you’ll have the freedom to take up an unpaid position for weeks, or even months, so our advice is to do it if you can. Above all else, it’s always wise to learn more about the way the real world works before jumping in feet first, and it’s always worth remembering how the boss takes her Earl Grey.
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