Get Experience!
Doing well at University is a great start to a fulfilling career but a degree alone is not enough to secure a good job on graduating. Graduate employers can be very demanding! As well as looking for evidence of your academic achievement, they want you to have gained work experience and developed a range of skills which will allow you to make an early and positive contribution on starting your first graduate job.
You also need to be aware that many large employers use summer work
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experience as an entry route into graduate jobs. Penultimate year students who do well during the summer are often considered for graduate jobs the following year. It is not uncommon for very early job offers to be made. With this in mind, think carefully about what you want to do during the summer vacation.
Prospects Work Experience contains features on everything from how to get work experience to how to make it look good on your CV, as well as case studies from a diverse range of students and organisations.
Collect these publications from the Careers Service or check out information on employers and organisations offering work experience at Work Experience.
Finding Work Experience
Work experience is a great way to build knowledge, skills and to help clarify your career plans but places are often competitive.
The Careers Service is a good starting point for finding out about vacation and term-time employment and some year-long placements. Check out Jobs Direct, our online vacancy system.
Internships/Summer Placements
Many large companies offer structured (often project based) summer opportunities. Adverts are placed on individual companies websites and Jobs Direct so check it out regularly. Some adverts are also put on your Department's notice board but not all!
Many companies restrict opportunities to third or penultimate year students especially if they see it as a route to graduate jobs.
Speculative applications
Most students will secure work experience through sending a speculative CV and Cover Letter to companies that they are interested in working for.
Use the My Subject pages to access information about about companies that you can target.
Web Resources
DoctorJob Work Experience - this site provides a list of employers with summer jobs, profiles of undergraduates who have done a variety of things during the summer, as well as a special section for those looking for law placements
Hobsons Work Experience - this site contains information and advice on the best way to find a suitable placement
Morethanwork - this site is specifically for students who work and is a partner organisation of the National Association of Student Employment Services (NASES). The website contains information specifically for international students, advice on your rights and tips on finding work experience
National Council for Work Experience - contains information and advice for students looking for work experience. The website also has a searchable databank of opportunities in the UK and overseas
STEP - a UK-wide, regionally coordinated summer programme, offering 2 nd and penultimate year students challenging 8 week project-based placements with small to medium sized companies and community organisations. Placements are very diverse and an environmental programme operates in the Edinburgh and Borders area. STEP is great for building personal, technical and business skills and is linked to a national competition. Applications welcomed from January to May each year
BUNAC - arranges visas and assists you to find summer work mainly in the USA and Canada; includes summer camps and a lot more. Details from the Careers Service and watch out for presentations on campus from the Autumn term
IAESTE – an international project-based technical summer work programme for penultimate year students of engineering, science, agriculture, architecture and related fields. Applications must be made in the Autumn term
The United Eurobridge – a voluntary organisation set up to enable young talented people to achieve their aspirations by promoting work experience in Europe and across the world.
Projects Abroad - Projects Abroad is the leading global organiser of overseas volunteer work placements. Volunteer projects for Gap Years, Career Breaks, Electives and Summer Placements.
National Grid - This is for students who want to experience work with an industry leader. Here you will be working on live projects that could well help to define your career direction – and success.
JET - The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme is an official Japanese Government scheme to improve foreign language teaching in schools and to promote international understanding
Everything You Wanted to Know about Sponsorship, Placements and Graduate Opportunities - includes general information on placements, applications and interviews as well as employer listings.
Target Jobs - Covers placements, internships, summer jobs and voluntary work.
Tuinternship - Internship opportunities across Europe for university students and new graduates
Prospects - this site includes a database of all kinds of work experience placements, from full sandwich years to vacation work and work shadowing.
Talent Ladder - provides a "matching service" for undergraduates seeking placements, internships and vacation work with graduate employers.
The Year in Industry - provide paid placements for students in their gap year, before or during their degree course. They have placements for students interested in all areas of engineering, science, IT, e-commerce, business, marketing, finance and logistics.
Fledglings.net - UK student resource for pleacements and internships.
Rate My Placement - allows you to view ratings of placements made by students who have had placements in particular organisations. You can also add your own ratings and search for current placements.
Start Easy Career - assists students in finding courses, internships, work and accommodation in France, Germany, Spain and UK.
iHipo - is a combination of social network and jobsite. Offers students hundreds of international job and internship opportunities with prestigious employers.
Student Employment Services - has a number of placements for students.
myWorkexp - work experience portal for students listing placements searchable by job type and location.
Step Enterprise - Offering work experience placements, internships and graduate recruitment opportunities within forward-thinking businesses.
Disability Toolkits - supports students with disabilities in finding and making the most of work experience.
Employ Ability - works in partnership with major employers to provide work experience internships and also permanent graduate posts for students and graduates with disabilities.
Intern Town - Site providing a free-of-charge, user-friendly space for future interns from all over the world to find challenging positions for up to 12 months at exciting companies worldwide.
VentureCo - run 4 month programmes that combine language school, volunteer work on an aid project and expedition, in South & Central America, India & Nepal, SE Asia and Africa.
Bolivia Volunteers - is a non-profit making charity with over 10 years experience placing volunteers with projects serving the many underprivileged societies of Cochabamba. Current projects in urgent need of help include: Orphanage Support, Street Children Rehabilitation and Teaching Assistants.
Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales - AIESEC is the world's largest not-for-profit student-managed youth development organisation. Its core activity is to organise international work placements from 2-18 months in 83 countries in the fields of Management, Marketing, Finance, Engineering, IT and also Development projects.
Internship Help - is a free online guide to internships, summer placements and vacation schemes in the UK.
responsibletravel.com - lists a huge range of Gap year travel ideas & options from leading responsible operators. Make the most of your Gap year by supporting local people & the environment as well as developing yourself.
Volunteering
Volunteering is not about ‘charity and giving’ but about working together for mutual benefit. Volunteering strengthens the link between higher education and work promoting active citizenship and gaining new skills through team development. In other words, volunteering is more than just giving few hours of your time – it is about learning new skills from which you and the organisations will both benefit [more...]
Did You Know?
A survey by the national volunteering charity, TimeBank, of 2000 of the UK's leading businesses found that:
- 73% of employers would employ candidates with volunteering experience over one who doesn't.
- 58% of employers say that voluntary work experience can actually be more valuable than experience gained in paid employment
- 94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills.
- 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted.