Work experience – why do it?
- Good for your CV
- Provides you with an insight into the workplace
- Develops key skills
- May earn you some money
- Tests your career choices
- Gives you an opportunity to put your knowledge into practice
The main options for work experience
How do I go about getting work experience?
On campus:
- Check out job opportunities advertised via the Students' Union Employment Exchange (you will need to register for regular updates). Term time work (and some vacation employment) is offered by the Students’ Union, Imago and the Careers and Employability Centre, as well as other departmental opportunities
- Talk to your personal tutor or departmental contacts to see if they have any links with employers or can offer any work within the department
- Look at the Student Hub web site to direct you to other opportunities on campus, such as the Students Helping Students scheme, which offers paid work which might be irregular, but has great opportunities to work with young people
- Look at the University’s own vacancies section
External employers
- Visit the Careers and Employability Centre for directories of employers and check out our website for employer information and vacancies
- Look out for vacancies in newspapers and journals
- Use your own contacts; friends and family
- Visit the 'Useful Websites' on this page
- Ask the Careers and Employability Centre about Loughborough University alumni contacts who offer work experience and career advice to current students or visit the Careers Mentors page for further information.
Not sure what you want to do?
- The Careers and Employability Centre can help you assess your skills and interests
- Think about the practicalities. How much time can you spare? Can you travel? Do you need a paid job or can you afford to do volunteering?
- Talk to friends, tutors and Career and Employability Centre staff – we are here to help!
I've got some work experience; how do I make it work for me?
You've worked in a couple of places. You learned a lot about how a business operates and you contributed to a project. How can you demonstrate to a prospective employer the value of that work experience?
Reflect on what you have learned. Has it improved your knowledge of that business? Has your confidence improved? Did you develop any transferable skills such as team working, communication, problem solving?
Be prepared to give examples to a potential employer to show how your period of work experience has added value to the skills and competencies you have acquired throughout your degree programme.
Present yourself as someone who has an awareness of their skills and of the area of employment in which you would like to work and before you know it you will be getting the job you want!
Read how work experience helped these students:
Claire Boden
Nichola Whitehead
Emily Kortlang
Caroline Fenton
Useful Websites
National Council for Work Experience (NWCE)
www.work-experience.org
Graduate Opportunities Wales
www.gowales.co.uk
Shell Step
www.step.org.uk/
TARGETjobs
www.targetjobs.co.uk/work-experience
Prospects
www.prospects.ac.uk
International Student Placement Office (ISPO) www.ispo.co.uk
Employers – can you help?
We are always looking to increase work experience opportunities to develop the employability of our graduates. The benefits to you as an employer are:
- Engagement with a top UK University
- Opportunity to contribute to the workforce of the future
- Additional help with a short-term or development project
- An outsider's perspective of your business
If you can offer a work experience opportunity to a Loughborough University student please get in touch.
Contact: Caroline Crouch, Employer Liaison Co-ordinator. Email: C.J.Crouch@lboro.ac.uk |
