How to boost your career prospects
Placement student Emma Hart says to go above and beyond to get noticed
Times photographer, Tom Pilston
1 of 1Placement student Emma Hart says to go above and beyond to get noticed Times photographer, Tom Pilston
LifeSkills Campaign: Choose the right work experience placement, and it could be the key to unlock a golden career
The wait is over, the exam results are in. But a string of A-grades alone is not a passport to a great job. Your CV has to stand out from the crowd. The way you describe your work experience could be the clincher in convincing a recruiter to move your application to the top of a very large pile. Survey results published earlier this year by High Fliers Research, specialists in the graduate recruitment market, showed that work placements or internships while at university are as important as a good degree. “New graduates who’ve not had any work experience at all during their studies are increasingly unlikely to be offered a good graduate job after university,” Martin Birchall, its managing director, said.
But while a good work experience placement can set you apart from the competition, it can also help you make up your mind about what you want to do. Mike Hill, chief executive of the National Council for Work Experience, says placements can definitely influence a student’s choice of subjects. In year 10, his son spent a week on placement in a bank, followed by a week teaching cricket in a primary school.
“The first week was so revelatory to him he decided to do economics at A level. And he said he wouldn’t want to play cricket at weekends if he had been teaching it all week, so he could see that the coaching side of things was not for him,” he adds.
Camille Proyart, a second-year photographic arts student at the University of Westminster, is also using work experience to decide which direction to take. She contacted a well-established freelance photographer to ask if she could go on a shoot with him. “He was lovely and explained everything, and then offered me more days the following week.”
But Proyart knows that her degree may open up other options and she is using the 15 days that her course requires her to spend on work experience to weigh up options. “So far I’ve done five days’ photography and I’m doing five in a school. Then I’ll arrange another five days somewhere else in the summer.”
But how do students, whether at school or university, get the most from their work experience? “Don’t sit back,” Proyart says. “It’s best to get involved and ask lots of questions.”
Oliver Sidwell, cofounder of the RateMyPlacement website, agrees. “Throw yourself in and don’t feel restrained,” he advises. “Get involved in projects and open yourself up to new experiences. Put yourself outside your comfort zone.”
He also suggests that to get the best from a placement, students should network furiously. “Find people you can make friends with and learn from. You never know where these connections will lead to in the future.” And don’t behave like a student.
Hill adds: “You might think, ‘Take me for what I am’ — you’ve got piercings and tattoos, say. But depending on where you are going to be working, hide the tattoos and take out the piercings.”
Of course, you must also do your research: study the company website, read the brochure, understand the product — whatever it takes to give the impression that you are serious about making a success of the placement.
The best work experience, according to reviews on RateMyPlacement, are those where the student is given some responsibility. “All the students who have posted reviews enjoy responsibility,” says Sidwell. “They don’t expect a lot of it but if they get it, they have a better experience.”
Emma Hart, who is doing a four-year marketing management sandwich degree at Northumbria University, says the students who get noticed are the ones who go above and beyond. Hart is nine months into a 13-month placement with software company ProspectSoft, where she works as a sales and marketing assistant. One of the company’s directors was a placement student eight years ago and 60 per cent of those on placement are later recruited by the company.
Apart from increasing her chances of getting a job, Hart is in no doubt about the benefits of her placement: “I’m a different person from the one I was nine months ago. I’ve gained so much confidence, and it’s nice to see the difference I am making.”
She adds: “The best advice I can give to other students is to take every opportunity you are given, and always give 100 per cent. You really need to push yourself. And use your initiative — if you have a good idea, voice it.”
But however good your placement and however well you perform, your experience will count for little if you do not translate what you have learnt into the language of the workplace.
So serving drinks in a bar means you are “confident in handling money”. Your adroit management of a stroppy customer becomes “negotiation skills”; you remain “calm under pressure” and can “think on your feet”. That time you were put in charge because everyone else was sick showed your “leadership qualities” while getting on with your colleagues demonstrates that you are good in a team.
Hill says: “Everybody does work experience now. It’s all about getting an advantage.”
Win work experience at Facebook
The Times has joined Barclays to support the bank’s LifeSkills campaign. By 2015, LifeSkills aims to equip one million young people with the skills they need for work and help them to experience work.
As part of the campaign, LifeSkills this week is launching a competition to give 14 to 19-year-olds the chance to win a special work experience place.
Prizes include travelling to Facebook’s headquarters in California and learning what it takes to run the social network; shadowing the manager of a Barclays Premier League football club; producing a broadcast package with a film crew from ITN; spending a day with Jameela Jamil, the BBC Radio 1 presenter and host of The Official Chart, or Thea Green, the founder of Nails Inc.
To enter the competition go to facebook.com/ yourlifeskills and register. The competition closes on Wednesday, May 15, with most of the prize assignments taking place during LifeSkills Work Week, which starts on Monday, June 17.
To find out more about the campaign visit barclayslifeskills.com
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