The experience of being in an actual workplace with a range of employees as they deal with real clients is invaluable. We encourage participation in work experience to enhance readiness for the modern workplace and engage with a variety of employers to organise opportunities nationally that could prove valuable in furthering your career.
What is work experience?
Work experience involves spending time in a workplace to gain experience of a particular type of work or role. It’s generally a short period of exposure to the workplace (in contrast to employment) but can take several forms, from work shadowing, to mini placements to internships lasting a few weeks. It can even be a work-based module as part of your course. It’s also common for work experience to be unpaid.
What are the benefits of work experience?
Employers place ever increasing importance on the practical experience gained by applicants in the workplace. This shouldn’t be a surprise. They’re employing you to work, so insight on what you’ve done before allows them to assess your suitability for their environment.
Any work experience is valuable. You’ll develop a range of skills, have something to put on your CV and learn from your interaction with a potentially diverse range of people, as well as gain clarity on what you do and don’t like.
Relevant work experience is particularly helpful, for example undertaking pro bono work as a law student, as it shows potential employers that you have been exposed to a comparable environment. Hopefully you can reference not only experience but also enjoyment and a degree of proficiency. You’ll also have good examples to bring out at interview.
So called non relevant work experience simply refers to experience obtained in a field which is different to the field you aspire to progress into. This can be at a high level, for example a career changer who has been in a different industry for some time, or at a lower level, where typically you’ve had limited experience in such an environment through your previous roles in hospitality, customer service or similar.
Employers look for transferable skills. These almost always include people, for example customer/client service, dealing with difficult people, organising resources, teamworking and resolving conflict. There isn’t a single workplace where some or all of these aren’t commonly found.
You should always aim to draw out appropriate examples when you submit applications. If you want to work in a small team, then reference something with two or three others, not the time you were part of a 100 strong taskforce.
We recommend that you look for additional work experience which will develop skills that are either lacking or important in the role you aspire to go into.
Work experience opportunities we offer
Whilst studying with us, and as an alumnus, you can access a range of opportunities advertised on our Employability Portal to help prepare you for the world of work. These include:
- In-house and external Pro Bono Schemes
- Vacation Schemes
- Internships
- Work Placements
What support can we provide?
We equip our students with the knowledge and skills to fulfil their career ambitions, and our Employability team is on hand to help you identify and apply for relevant work experience to enhance your employment prospects. We also assist with preparation for such opportunities by advising on workplace etiquette, such as what to wear, how to address people, expectations in use of mobile devices, timekeeping, navigating office politics and the challenges of commuting.