Making the most of your Work Experience

Transcription

1 Making the most of your Work Experience Version 7.12

2 Work experience is a key addition to any graduate CV. It s important to use your time wisely and make the most of any work experience whether this is part-time work, internships, industrial placements or work shadowing, as this experience will make you more employable in the future. This guide aims to help you make the most of any experience you gain, providing you with some tips on what to do before, during and after your work experience. Before your work experience Note-to-self Write a note to yourself, asking these questions: Why are you doing this internship/work experience? What do you want to gain out of it? Any obstacles/difficulties you may face What skills/experience can you develop? How could this help your career? You don t have to have the answers to all these questions right now, what s important is that it focuses you on why you are doing this and what you would like to get out of it. They will act as reminders along the way so you don t let opportunities slip by. What skills will I develop? You will be learning lots of new skills during your work experience, as well as further developing skills you already have. Write down a list of those you can think of, using the job advert, the job description, evidence from your interview and from the company website to fill in the gaps as much as possible. These skills may include: Skills and knowledge specific to the job Technical skills ( software, equipment, machinery) Personal skills like team working which aren t necessarily specific to the job Transferrable Skills Transferable skills are important as any employer will expect you to have developed them. You can develop these skills even if you carry out work experience which isn t related to your preferred career (if you have one in mind) Transferable skills include: Team work Communication skills (communicating ideas, delivering presentations) Problem solving

3 Commercial awareness (insight into how businesses really work) Organisation/planning skills Ability to work under pressure Leadership Many employers look for similar skills, especially team work and communication skills. You can find a longer list of skills and suggestions on how to boost them on our website: So, what skills will your work experience equip you with? Check your job description and read between the lines: Example: Retail internship Serving Customers Serving difficult customers Covering for the Manager Dividing jobs between the team Dealing with busy shifts Spotting ways to improve service Sharing these ideas with team Skill used Communication Assertiveness / Influencing Prioritising / Responsibility Team work Working under pressure Initiative Communication / influencing Pre work experience skills assessment Before you embark on your work experience review what skills you have already and rate whether you feel they are strong, weak or need a bit of work. Be honest, this assessment is only for your eyes! During you work experience look for opportunities to shine when using your stronger skills and seek opportunities to practise your weaker skills to improve them. Use our Employability Audit as a handy guide, which you can download at: During your work experience Tips on how to impress, get connected, and make the most of opportunities Make contacts Joining a new organisation will bring you into contact with a wide range of new people. All of these colleagues and acquaintances will become your network a very valuable resource. See our advice

4 on building your contacts and networking at: Try to impress Even if your work experience isn t related to what you want to do in the future, you should always aim to make a good impression with your manager and colleagues. For many of you, this will be the first non-academic reference you can obtain which will be vital for future job applications. Plus it is a small world out there you never know who knows who, who s talking to whom and who is watching you. Get to know your workplace. If people tend to arrive into work before 9.00am, maybe you should try to also? If your manager is tied up see if there is anything you can do to help with their workload. Small gestures can have a big impact. Build your knowledge Throughout your work experience, try to learn about what s happening in your organisation and its sector. Take an interest beyond your day-to- day role; ask questions about the organisation and how it works. This will help you develop your commercial awareness. If you have the opportunity to access any training courses or conferences, welcome these with open arms. Your CV will certainly be improved if you can include specific details of how you ve developed your skills and knowledge but they can be expensive to fund yourself. Record your achievements It s surprising how quickly you can forget what you ve been doing all day, every day, for months, when you need to remember - honestly! Start to record your activities, responsibilities and achievements on a regular basis (every two weeks or monthly perhaps, depending on the variety in your role). When you start to update your CV or prepare for an interview, you will have a set of relevant, up to date and clear examples of how you ve progressed since starting your degree. Keeping a skills log A skills log will help you record significant events that take place during your work experience, and provide a format to remember the key points and draw out what you really learnt from that situation. It can be in any format you wish, but should include both situations that went well, and those which perhaps didn t go so well. Pay particular attention to times when you use the skills you particularly want to develop. It s a good idea to review your log a few days or weeks after writing it as you may be more objective. Skills log entries should include: The date The situation that occurred and what you did What skills you employed What did you learn (about yourself, how you performed, how you felt about it) What would you do differently in future?

5 Skills log examples Organisational Time Management Planning ahead Prioritising work Task management Example Specific skill used Details of activity or task What did you learn Team working Supporting others Motivating others Honouring commitments Example Specific skill used Details of activity or task What did you learn Communication Verbal/Face to face Written Listening/understanding Dealing with people of all levels/backgrounds Example Specific skill used Details of activity or task What did you learn Interpersonal Negotiating Influencing others Building relationships

6 Example Specific skill used Details of activity or task What did you learn Problem solving Analysing information Making judgments/decisions Turning ideas into solutions Example Specific skill used Details of activity or task What did you learn Additional Skills IT: Level of competency Range of packages Application in projects/course work Customer/client interaction: Handling problems Quality customer service Developing rapport Leadership/management: Taking initiative Delegating tasks Managing others After your work experience It s easy just to focus on your studies again once your work experience is over and return to university, but there are a few things you should think about to ensure you get the most from the experience. How have your skills improved? Read your note-to-self back again. Do you feel you achieved your aims and learnt what you expected? Review your skills log and see if any trends emerge. Does it tell you anything about

7 yourself that you didn t know, or provide clues on things you need to work on in future, or how you might tackle different situations? Ask for a reference A reference from the employer acts as a confirmation of the work experience you have on your CV, so it s always worth asking when you leave if your employer will provide one. A good reference can be a way to assure a future employer that you will do a good job for them too. You can get more advice on references and how to use them here: Is there an opportunity for future work? If your work experience went well, and you might be interested in working for the employer again it s worth keeping the door open by reaffirming that you enjoyed working there and asking about future opportunities to return. Some larger employers use internships as a talent pipeline into their graduate roles, which can provide a reassuring offer of a job after graduation if you would like to return to that organisation. Communicate your achievements to employers Employers frequently tell us that although students can have some good experience on their CV, what really makes a difference is how you sell this experience and explain how it relates to the job you are applying for. Use your skills log as evidence in future applications and job interviews. These entries will give you specific examples that employers often ask for. Use the STAR formula to explain these situations in a way which makes sense and provides the information an employer will want to see. S T A R Situation (the context, background, why) Task (what were you doing/working on?) Action (what did YOU do to resolve the problem not we / the team ) Result (what actually happened, and how do you know it worked) You can find lots of advice on preparing for interviews on our website at:

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