Graduate employers are advising students to use summer to gain work experience. Summer is a time to relax after all those exams and deadlines but it is also a great chance to have more time to reflect on your career plans.
An internship is a great way to gain work experience, make links with employers and get a better idea about what you want to do. However if you do not have an internship lined up it is not the end of the world! Here are some summer alternatives.
Build up your industry knowledge
Keep up to date with what is going on in different industries by reading news on their websites or industry journals. Some newspaper broadsheets feature a different industry supplement each day of the working week. You can read these for free in the university library and local public libraries.
You can attend industry courses and events. Keep an eye on QM Careers Events Calendar and the adverts in the above publications.
Mentioning that you put yourself out there for events and to meet people can distinguish you from other applications you make in the future and also make yourself known to potential employers. Being aware of what is going on in the working world can provide good ideas for when you are invited to ask interviewers a question at the end of the interview.
Get an insight into careers that interest you
After reading some job descriptions you could look into getting a practical insight into the work place. You can ‘work shadow’ an employee in a relevant organisation for a few days. You would spend time with the person to understand the work activities and practices involved in the role.
You can approach employers using your personal contacts or networking. Some organisations offer career insight days during the spring and summer holidays but if not use the organisation’s website to find an appropriate departmental contact or call the HR department to ask for one. You would then write to the organisation with a CV and application letter. Remember you can book an appointment with Careers to go through it with an adviser.
Doing this shows initiative and can improve your CV by showing familiarity with the specific work place.
Practise, practise your skills
If you cannot arrange work shadowing in your preferred career areas you can still enhance your skills. You can identify skills favoured in your preferred industry or more general workplace like negotiating with others, project management, problem-solving.
A part-time job shows that you have a responsible attitude to work, search for vacancies on JobOnline. Volunteering can offer you valuable and challenging projects to work on and you can have a lot of fun whilst doing it, get some ideas from PROVIDE. Entering competitions allows you to work on tasks set by employers, put together a proposal and make a tangible achievement. Even if you don’t win you are showing a proactive and genuine interest.
It is a good idea to try to set and achieve a career-related goal during each of your summer breaks whilst at university. So which ever year you are in, yes finalists too, visit Careers (WG3, Queens’ Building) to get started.
If you have not already done so, it is not too late to apply for The City Course as the deadline has been extended to the 25th of June.
