LOTS of students carry out work experience during their time at university as a compulsory part of their degree course, but even if it doesn’t add anything to your degree, it’s a great way to get ahead of the curve in a particularly tough industry. Most work experience placements will prove to be good learning opportunities, even if they don’t lead directly to employment.
LEARN INDUSTRY SKILLS, SOFTWARE AND TRICKS
If you work for a large company, you’re likely to have to use industry-standard software, and you’ll pick-up tricks and shortcuts of the trade. Both of these go down excellently on your CV and in job interviews – if you’re already familiar with software and tools that are widely used, then from an employer’s perspective, you won’t be difficult to train up.
LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW YOUR INDUSTRY WORKS
Sometimes being at the bottom you learn much more than if you’d started out at the top – you get to see how the company runs and how every person contributes. You might even learn that you don’t want to do the job you thought you wanted to – this is really useful for narrowing down your career path. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, you’re there to learn.
TANGIBLE EXPERIENCE
For an employer looking for someone to hire, nothing looks more impressive than someone with hands-on experience in the field. You can use multiple work experience placements to demonstrate that you are dedicated and that you have had experience of a variety of different workplaces.
MAKE CONTACTS
The value of work experience is not always obviously apparent. A lot of companies don’t pay their interns, and sometimes they leave interns without guidance. It’s nerve-wracking but this is a great opportunity to make contacts and suggest ideas without any pressure.
Contacts in most industries can come in handy, sometimes years later.
REFLECT ON YOUR INTERNSHIP
After the placement is over consider what aspects you enjoyed the most and what you learnt during your time. Don’t be disheartened if you didn’t particularly like it, work experience can also be used to help eliminate particular career choices and job sectors. Use the experience to think about why it didn’t match up to your expectation and consider if there might be another area you’d be better suited to.