Why you need to start thinking about work experience

  

Work experience may no longer be compulsory for school-goers in England, but it is essential for the new job seeker. So dire is the recent situation, with increasing numbers of students emerging from university inexperienced, the Scottish Funding Council have set out new guidelines to ensure grads are prepared for the workplace. But why bother with an internship, when you could be sinking pints with the rest of your friends?

Truth is, if you want to get a job straight out of uni, you have to have some kind of work history behind you. Research from Highfliers shows that almost half of recruiters expect previous work experience in a serious candidate. Those without must go without. And it makes sense; why would you hire someone untried and untested, when you’ve got a more proven candidate applying for the same position?

Forget applications: experience itself can be the best route to a full-time role. Up to 80% of today’s jobs are filled through networking, and where are you going to find useful connections working in your field? In a company you’re already employed at, of course.

Finally, it’s much easier to succeed at job interview if you’re already in a temporary position elsewhere. Fact is, job hunts are easier for people who already have jobs. Counterintuitive it may seem, but who are you going to bet on: somebody who is currently employed, and thus must be capable to some degree, or the down-and-out whom nobody else has gone for?

So don’t be the last kid picked for the netball team. Get an internship or some work experience today, and maximise your potential.

Susanna Quirke writes for Inspiring Interns, a graduate recruitment firm which specialises in sourcing candidates for internships and giving out graduate careers advice. To hire graduates or browse internship London, visit our website.

 

A week in the life of a UoC Placement Student

 

This week, UoC has had the pleasure of welcoming placement student, Adam to our campus. We asked him to give us his say on how he found his work experience!

A bit about Adam…

My name is Adam Parker; I’m a student at Trinity 6^th Form in Carlisle, studying Computing, Maths, History and Physics. I’ve recently had the chance to do a Work Experience Placement with The University of Cumbria.

Why did you choose UoC for your work experience?

I chose to do it here because the potential work fitted in well with my interests, namely librarian work and administration.

What have you had the opportunity to do on your placement?

During my placement here I’ve been working in the Library, performing various tasks pertaining to the work there, such as banking, shadowing desk/enquiries staff and removing and withdrawing books. I’ve also had the opportunity to work in the Careers office where I’ve used social media to advertise placements and vacancies, as well as learnt about the large range of events which are provided for students and others.

How has your work experience been useful?

I believe work placements like this one are very important for students of all ages to participate in because they help develop a good work ethic, give you a view of where your interests could take you in employment and look great on your CV.

Would you recommend your placement with UoC?

I would highly recommend The University of Cumbria as a work placement as there are many different roles to work in, staff are friendly, helpful and engaging and the facilities are modern and well equipped.

adam.parker@trinity.cumbria.sch.uk

Friday’s Featured Vacancy – 06/02/2015 – BBC Radio 1/1XTRA Intern Scheme

Applications for this year’s scheme are open on 2nd February and close at midnight on Sunday 15^th February 2015. The selection and assessment process will take place in March 2015. 

Please click here for further information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/trainee-schemes-and-apprenticeships/production/where-it-begins

ARE YOU:

• Passionate about music and digital tech and are doing something about it?
• Already making your own Youtube videos, broadcasting radio programmes, writing your own blogs, making your own films?
• The sort of person who has ‘get up and go’ and can get stuff done?

DO YOU:

• Want to get hands on experience across all areas of Radio 1 & 1Xtra, from live events to programmes, to online and visualisation?
• Want a chance to share your creative ideas?

THEN OUR INTERNSHIP IS FOR YOU!

Our paid 8 week internships will give you the chance to work across our shows and departments. You’ll get hands on skills at the heart of BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra HQ.

Here are the dates of the placements on offer:

24th April – 18th June 2015

20th July 2015 – 11th September 2015

About you

YOU NEED TO:

• Be creative and brilliant, passionate about radio, music and everything that appeals to a young audience.
• Know about current music and you’ll be listening to Radio 1 & 1Xtra
• Be into new technology and social media and will get how this is impacting on us and our audience.
• Be 18 or over and available to get to London to work on the dates stated. (The placements are based in our HQ on the top floor of New Broadcasting House, London).
• Be from any background, and any part of the UK. You don’t need to be a loud mouth! You could be quietly confident in your abilities.

YOU DON’T NEED TO:

• Be qualified! NB. You DON’T NEED any qualifications or radio experience. Instead, show us that you have a big imagination and a genuine enthusiasm for exploring and building a career in the media.
• Want to be the next Greg James or Sarah Jane Crawford. This is an ‘off air’ scheme, for people interested in careers in off air production roles. It is NOT a scheme for people interested in presenting.

More detail about the scheme

During the eight weeks you will work with teams across both stations, spending blocks of time in different departments. You will take part in meetings and brainstorms across R1 and 1X, research topics and complete a range of duties for production teams prior to and during live shows.

Hours will mainly be 10-6pm Monday to Friday. However we are 24/7 stations and keen that our interns experience and get involved with as much as possible. We are looking for flexible people who will be able to work weekends or alternative hours on request.

At the start of the placement, you will be set a research brief to prepare and develop across the 8 weeks. You will then present your findings and ideas to senior management at the end of the placement. This could be on anything, from how we use social media to comedy. We will give you creative and insight training to help you with this project. You’ll have regular meetings with the Marketing and Audiences team to develop your ideas.

During your time here you will also have a mentor. They will be a senior member of the Radio 1 & 1Xtra team who will spend time with you every week to discuss how your placement is going as well as your future plans.

An Introduction to Career Ahead

What is Career Ahead?
It’s an employability award run by the University of Cumbria which enables you to develop your employability skills to get a good job when you graduate. You complete the award in your own time online through PebblePad, and it is a way to evidence your extra-curricular activity while at University.

Why should I complete the Career Ahead award?
Employers want graduates with good employability skills. They don’t just look at your degree; they want to find the candidate with the best skills for the job. According to High Flyers (2011): “new graduates who’ve not had any work experience during their time at university have little or no chance of landing a well-paid job”. Career Ahead allows you to evidence the skills you already have, develop those skills that you want to develop, crate effective employability tools such as cv and cover letter writing skills, interview skills and allows access to free workshops, both face-to-face and online. In short, Career Ahead enables you to be job ready when you graduate.

So what do I have to do?
The award is broken down into three elements: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Bronze relates to personal development – completing a skills audit and a reflective diary to identify your career goals and skills gaps. Silver relates to skills development – you develop four employability skills, and undertake 100 hours of extra-curricular activity, as well as two online employability workshops. You also create a reflective diary of your progress in your web folio. Gold relates to career management and enables you to search for the job you want, create a targeted CV and cover letter or application form, and develop your web folio to evidence all your activity. Once you have completed and passed all 3 elements you will also have the chance to take part in a mock interview with an employer.

What workshops are available?
Some of the options include leadership, teambuilding, applications and CVs, interview skills, personal branding and mentoring.

What do I get at the end of the course?
Upon completion you will receive a University of Cumbria certificate, as well as having your web-folio evidencing your progress, skills and experience. Most importantly though you will have gained the skills you need to get the job you want!

What next?
Once you have completed the bronze silver and gold elements you can undertake the platinum award – you will complete and extra 50 hours of extra-curricular activity, mentor a bronze or silver student, as well as submitting a reflective diary of your progress. You will also get the chance to organise an event, share a skill, complete a placement or start up your own student enterprise!

Interested?
If you would like to find out more you can:
Come along to the Introduction to Career Ahead presentation today at the Fusehill Street campus (room LG101) at 4.15 pm.
Take a look at the Career Ahead areas on the University’s website or on BlackBoard (at the top of the page when you log in).
Email mailto: careerahead@cumbria.ac.uk to ask advice, find out more or register onto the award.

100 companies open up work experience places

One hundred companies have signed up to Nick Clegg’s social mobility strategy, pledging their firms will open up opportunities for work experience to try to bring an end to career advancement by ‘who you know’.

Supermarkets, banks, law firms and energy providers have committed to advertise work experience places openly, reports the Guardian (12 January 2012). Barclays, HSBC, Santander, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer and Morrisons have signed up and join already-enrolled companies such as Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Allen & Overy, BP, Shell and E.ON. Together the new firms employ more than two million people in Britain.

Source: http://www.agcas.org.uk/articles/491

Graduate Recruitment Trends

Some good news from a recent survey:

– The UK¹s leading employers are expecting to increase their graduate recruitment by 9.4% in 2011 and three-fifths of employers expect to recruit more graduates in 2011 whilst a quarter plan to maintain their intake at 2010 levels.

– The leading accountancy & professional services firms are intending to hire almost 10% more graduates than in 2010, an increase of more than 350 trainees year-on-year. There will also be substantial increases to the graduate intake at the City¹s top investment banks (up 12.2% compared to 2010) and the high street banks (up 24.8%).

– The largest recruiters of graduates in 2011 will be PricewaterhouseCoopers (1,200 vacancies), Deloitte (1,000 vacancies), KPMG (900 vacancies), the Teach First scheme (780 vacancies) and Ernst & Young (740 vacancies).

– A quarter of top graduate programmes will pay new recruits a starting salary of more than £30,000 when they begin work and seven organisations are offering at least £40,000 to this year¹s graduates. Public sector employers (average of £22,200), retailers (average of £24,000) and engineering & industrial companies (average of £24,500) have the lowest graduate pay rates for 2011.

– Three-fifths of employers are providing industrial placements for undergraduates (typically for 6-12 months) or vacation work lasting more than three weeks. However, nearly two-thirds of recruiters caution that graduates who have had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their organisation’s graduate programmes.

Source: Highflyers

Interested in BBC Work experience placements? See http://ow.ly/394Ho
Apply soon – deadline 01/12/10