How to get work experience

Hello everyone! How are you getting along with your studies? Good I hope! However, do not forget to relax amidst the lectures, seminars and courseworks! With the winter break just around the corner, it’s time to plan for that escape you and your friends have been talking about for the past year. From minced pies in the UK to Gluhwein in Germany, it’s time to take a break from studying and concentrate on the enjoying! After all, all work but no play makes Jack a dull boy!

However, we do have to consider about our careers and what we are doing in the future after graduation. Afterall, we wouldn’t want our degree to go to waste do we? Other than studies, there are many other ways of boosting your CV to increase our employability chances in the working society. One of the key factors is work experience. Studies have shown that “more than half of the recruiters says graduates who has no previous work experience are unlikely to make it through their selection process and have little or no chance of securing a job offer for their graduate programme.” (The Guardian, 2012) Here are some options for you to consider:

Summer Internships

One of the most common approaches taken by students in universities in an attempt to get work experience from their relevant fields. Most companies out there provide such programmes because not only it’s a good way to get potential talents who would be able to help the company in the long run, it’s cost effective as well! This is because during the summer, there’s a vast amount of students looking for opportunities and hence, the pay can be very competitive. By doing their summer internships, you would usually be priority in line when it comes to applying for the same company’s graduate programme compared to people who has not come into contact with the company.

Other than the money and experience, you would get a chance to widen your social circle in a working society, expanding your horizon to know more people of the professional agenda. This provides you with valuable contacts, which might just come in handy one day when you are applying for jobs or you require some assistance in some related problem. Lastly, it’s a great way to explore career possibilities for yourself in the future after graduation. Since it only runs for about 10~12 weeks, even if you do not find it enjoyable, it’s easy to stick to the end and this would help you to decide against what kind of careers you do not wish to consider in the future.

Year in Industry/Placement Year
Uniquely UK, this type of experience requires you to take a year off from university between your second and third year to look for a 10~12 month placement in a company in a related position. This might not be suitable for everyone out there because not every course offers such programme and not everybody wants to delay their graduation by a year. However, the upside to this is tremendous because as a common practise, usually company who does take you in for placement would tend to employ you after your graduation right away. Of course, this is provided that you perform well at the work place and attain certain grade requirements in your third year. This means that you might be able to secure a great job even before you step into your third year! Now that’s job security!

Most people are concerned with the financial downside to this placement year at this point because one more year studying abroad would mean more expenses and another year of tuition fees. Your parents are not going to be happy about this. (I’m kidding) Well, what if I tell you that your parents do not have to fork out a single cent for the placement year? That is true to a certain extent because during your Year in Industry, you are given a full time salary of approximately £1,500 per month elsewhere and £1,700 in London. This means that you are easily cover rent and expenses for the entire year without scrimping and saving. But what about the tuition fees? During the placement year, it would be unfair for the university to charge you a full rate because you wouldn’t be using any of the school’s resource, lecturer and facilities. Hence, UEA is only charging a small amount of 15% of your original tuition fees for the year! For the year 2018/2019, this is a small amount of just £2,287.50. This means that you just need to set aside £200 a month and you’re all set for tuition fees!

Part time work
Many of us may look into this option for some additional allowance and something to fill the spare time we have between classes and on the weekends. However, did you know that it helps in a CV as well? This is because employers would see this as an additional effort while studying to enrich yourself other than the classes you are attending. Compared to Summer internships and placement years, this would not stand out but if you do not wish to add an additional year to your studies or to remain in the UK during the summer, this would be an excellent choice for you. Do bear in mind that to maximise the effectiveness of this, you would have to choose something that is closely related to your course.

So the above are my recommendations to boost your CV and to make the most out of your abroad time in the UK! One important thing to note: you HAVE to start early if you want to get a position at a reputable company. Preferably October for Placement Years and November to December for Internships. Usually big companies opens up their position at that time and it fills up extremely quickly. However, there are cases where students manages to secure placements or internships one or two months beforehand but its’ rare so do not rely on that.

I hope these information helped! I am currently in the process of applying for placement years too so that is why I see the importance in these things. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask me at Singaporean.students@uea.ac.uk or you can just drop off a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as possible! 

Eugene Zhang Yuting

Singapore Ambassador