On Work Experience

Happy Hump Day, guys! This week I'm working with a Communications firm to gain some work experience before starting my course. I just wanted to share my personal opinion on work experience as well as outlining some of the things you learn whilst on the job. I wish that my motto was 'think less do more' and I'm trying to live that way more and more by actively engaging in the careers that I might like to pursue in order to make informed decisions, amongst other decisions I'll need to make fairly soon.

First of all, this week is my first week of work experience EVER. I have worked in part-time jobs throughout my time as an undergraduate but I have never worked full-time in a particular industry. I think some students find the whole working-for-free thing frustrating. I would like to point out that you're not working for free when you enter into a work experience. Okay, you might not get paid but you're gaining valuable commodities that money can't buy: relevant skills, understanding, and contacts. I am certainly finding that this week, only 2 full days in and I have learned so much from the people I have been working with as well as the set up of the company. It gives me an opportunity to ask questions about the company, the individuals, how they got to where they are. It's also good to ask what training they may have had. The company may offer to show you how to use some industry-specific software or show you how they make the most of a website. LEARNING NEVER STOPS. Never. Sorry.

Secondly, not only is work experience valuable to put on your CV to show a prospective employer and make you look all pro-active and stuff, it helps YOU to work out if that industry is for you. I'm currently trying to work out if I would like PR, Marketing, or Advertising the most. People think they're all the same, I thought they were all the same when I started out. No. They are different. Hopefully, some work experience will help me to decide between them. Or it will prove that I'm greedy and want to work in all three. Either way, it'll be much more beneficial to have a basic understanding of the industries before deciding.

Finally, work experience is not a hard thing to find. One of my best friends from university completed some form of work experience almost every holiday, be that working in a school, a marketing department of a company, or something else. She was pro-active and spent her time very wisely. She sent a TON of emails and was rejected by a lot of people but was rewarded for her perseverance with at least one placement each time. She now has a full-time, adult job. Yeah. 

I can't guarantee you a job after completing work experience but I can tell you that it helps. Some bigger companies such as Rolls Royce, Land Rover, and Unilever, will actively recruit students for (paid) summer internships and then offer them a job for when they have graduated. WOULDN'T THAT BE THE DREAM.

It's never too late to gain some work experience. Send an email, chat to your friend's mum who works in an industry you want to be in, ask your parents to help you, speak to a university careers advisor. Whatever you do: think less do more. It works.