Possessing a good degree is no longer enough to guarantee you employment in a career you actually want. Although having a degree from a good university is a solid subject will help you get from the bottom to the middle of a massive pile of C.V.’s on the HR manager’s desk, it will no longer get you to the top. For that you need work experience. But how to you get experience if you can’t get a job? It is a bit of catch 22 situation. You can’t get a job because you don’t have experience but you can’t get experience because you don’t have a job. There is a way around this problem: internships or unpaid work experience.
However, with so many people willing to work for free these days to get a job, how do you get the most out of your experience?
It’s a sad fact that many young people are exploited in the work place these days. Almost one in five businesses admits to using interns as cheap labour according to a YouGov poll. Last summer alone, there were 250,000 interns working in for UK companies and most of these were unpaid. It seems it is now expected that graduates have done form of work experience placement, whether it be paid or unpaid. So, if you can’t beat the system, you’ll need to work around it.
If you want to work for a specific company then target them directly. Tailor your C.V. around what they are looking for. Contact them on Twitter or LinkedIn and say why you want to work for them specifically. Even if a company is not advertising for interns, paid or otherwise, it doesn’t mean they won’t take you on, after all, who doesn’t like getting something for free?!
If you get a placement, don’t waste it. Use it to help you get more. Make the most of the connections you make, most industries are smaller than you think and people tend to know each other, so use previous contacts to make new ones. Always stay in touch with the people you have worked for, even if it’s just via Facebook or Twitter; it could lead to paid work in the future.
If you are looking for graduate jobs or internships visit Guardian Jobs.
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