Work Experience

As every day of job searching passes by, it becomes an ever greater frustration that I didn't spend more of my time at university accumulating that all important 'experience', rather than focusing the majority of my attention on my academic work. I simply didn't have the dedication to take up the unpaid summer placements and internships that seem so highly valued by employers. Instead, I spent my summers gallivanting around Europe with my friends. Fun but not exactly much of a CV filler.

Today it seems students must be prepared to dedicate those long summer months to personal improvement rather than rest and relaxation (don't they know its tough working 30 weeks of the year!). However, while those like myself lack the motivation, many more simply can't devote 12 weeks to working and living for nothing. For employers, summer student placements are a great trick; they gain an eager and intelligent workforce with no addition to their overheads. What is more they can claim they are acting entirely selflessly, helping future graduates gain valuable experience! But enough of my cynicism for now, the point of this little diatribe is that, in short, I did not take the time to pursue these opportunities. I lack relevant experience.

My first taste of unpaid employment came in Year 10 when I sallied forth from my High School to find a placement for a week: I lazily opted to spend time at my local primary school, which was enjoyable but bore little relation to my future career plans. Skip forward to my graduation in July 2010 and this remained the only workplace experience I could draw on, bar a few months working in a local restaurant.

It was time to organise something more significant: using a couple of local contacts I managed to arrange some time working in several departments of Staffordshire County Council. I got off to an inauspicious start after being asked to review a policy brochure, which I diligently did finding a number of minor linguistic criticisms, only to discover my supervisor for the morning had written it. Not the greatest way to endear yourself! But from that point onwards, the experience was useful and interesting. I was not made to feel like a tea boy (an often heard complaint of interns) and gained a good overview of local government. However, the placement, by the standards of employers, was not long enough. I've seen many supposed 'graduate' job adverts demand upwards of one year's experience in a relevant field; this seems unfair.

And so I reach the stage I am at today, having two degrees but very little 'real world' experience. It is not feasible for me to work and live for nothing so I must attempt to balance my minimum wage job with finding regular doses of more relevant (but unpaid) positions. This is easier said than done: while businesses are often prepared to take on someone for a week or two, or employ an intern for 12 weeks, it is more difficult to arrange one or two days per week over an indefinite period, which is ideally what I require. Given my personal interests, I have written to a number of local(ish) MPs of my particular political persuasion enquiring about any opportunities, but this is a very competitive field.

Work experience is the panacea that will cure my ills as a graduate job seeker. Nevertheless, who knew it could be this tricky to give away my services for nothing! If you're reading this and happen to have any work experience success/horror stories I'd love to hear them. Thanks for reading and keep commenting...