One of the aspects you can evidence on your globalbridge profile, is work experience. We know that employers look for this, and if you have no work experience, it could be that your application is less successful. Evidencing any work experience on your globalbridge profile is a major part to being able to showcase your whole self and not just the list of grades on a piece of paper.
Spending as little time as even one day a week with an employer, either shadowing or helping out with small tasks, can be greatly beneficial to you. For example, my daughter wants to be a nursery teacher and has contacted her old primary school after school club, and asked if she could come in for a couple of hours a week, just so she can get some experience working with and supervising young children.
So why is work experience so valuable and what will you get out of it?
You will gain transferable skills, such as teamwork and communication. Going out of your comfort zone, will enhance your confidence to be able to communicate with people outside of your family and friends network. This is so important as you will have to do this as you progress through life, whatever avenue you take.
You will learn how organisations work, and see firsthand, how the workplace you desire to be a part of, come to life!
It will build your confidence, particularly with adults.
It will either enhance your aspirations to proceed on this career path, or equally as valuable, give you time to conclude actually this isn’t the right path for you, and allow you to pursue others.
You could get opportunities arise. If the workplace you are at has vacancies become available, and they have been impressed with you, this could be a foot in the door!
How do you find work experience? Our top tips!
You may be given opportunities to do some work experience through school. They may use existing business contacts, or ask for any parental contacts within the school who may be prepared to offer some experience.
Go direct to the business – like I said about my daughter, you can directly contact businesses and employers, asking if they would be happy to give you some work experience. This is one of the ways where having started to build a globalbridge profile comes in. You can share your talents and skills that you may have already evidenced, using your unique URL link, showing the ‘whole you’. A good place to start is to think about contacts and networks you already have in your life through your family and friends.
Check out Employer websites. Some employers actually advertise work experience places through their website, it may be that you need to fill in a form on-line, again a great opportunity to share your globalbridge profile link.
Search Undergraduate/graduate internships - Graduate employers are increasingly using their internship schemes as a recruitment tool. Successful completion of an internship can often lead to being offered a graduate job.
Make the most of your work experience
Quite often the work experience you manage to secure may not be directly related to what you want to study or the job you may want to do. Remember all work experience is beneficial and it is how it is presented to universities/employers which maximises its value. Your globalbridge profile can do this, showing the skills you will have developed and how they relate to your chosen career. For example for potential medical students, communication skills developed in a care home can be more valuable than work experience in a hospital where contact with patients is often restricted.
Remember, you are more than a list of grades
Again, I hope this has been helpful. Below are just some websites which may be of some use when considering work experience. Remember you are more than a list of grades, consider work experience and get this added to your globalbridge profile.