Employability and Careers Services

The benefits

Experience of work in business, industry or the third sector can help shape your future. You can decide on jobs you do and don't like, meet a variety of different people and gain some valuable skills to help you for when you graduate. In addition, work experience can often be paid experience and could lead to a graduate job offer before you have even graduated!

Work experience is useful whatever result comes from it, offering you the chance to apply the academic knowledge you have learned. Finally, employers value graduates with any work experience very highly, particularly if it is relevant to their chosen career.

The options

  • Some of the options for work experience include:
  • Work based learning as part of your course (speak to your tutor for possible opportunities)
  • Structured summer internship and Vacation work
  • Work part-time
  • Work placement in Europe as part of your course
  • Volunteering

What you need to do

Try making enquiries in your existing networks first , through your friends and family , lecturers and other acquaintances, to see if there are any opportunities amongst them. For more help on speculative approaches for work experience, speak to an adviser.

A speculative approach—Sometimes you may have to contact a company for work experience when they have not advertised. This is your chance to create a unique opportunity, which is useful in today's competitive climate. If you have an idea of your future career, it also gives you a chance to make contacts and sample your chosen professional sector.