Explore why finding one matters and ways to kick-start your career

You're on the brink of coming to the end of years of studying. The world of work beckons… but not quite yet. There's still a way to go, but you'd like to dip your toe in the water first, find out how to get work experience, as you've heard it's a good idea to have on your CV.

Well, you've come to the right place.

Why it's a good idea to get work experience

Work experience is usually a temporary role designed to gain practical experience, allowing the recipient to find out what it's like to work in a particular industry. They can then decide if they want to continue down that road or not afterwards.

The benefits of undertaking work experience include:

  • It showcases relevant work experience on a graduate CV, or any CV for that matter, demonstrating your commitment to a particular sector

  • You can hone in on work experience, highlighting the skills you've obtained, on a personal statement for a university application

  • It will provide you with networking opportunities, where you can make valuable contacts in the sector you're focused on for further on down the line when you want to apply for a permanent position

  • You'll develop a burgeoning maturity and accountability as you will learn how to be more proactive, organised, and reliable when undertaking work experience

How to get work experience for a job – key pathways

If you're engaging with this post on how to get work experience, it's probably because you don't have much at the moment. That's not a problem, as there are plenty of ways to find work experience opportunities to suit you.

Check out the list below for tips and advice on where and how to get work experience. 

Opportunities through school or college

If you're still in full-time education, either at school or at university, you can ask the careers department for some help. They should be able to steer you in the right direction about how to get work experience, such as knowing which local companies offer a week or two of experience.

Courses with work experience attached

If you're keen to go down the practical route, all T Levels include work experience as they're vocational qualifications, specifically designed with input from businesses and employers. There's also VTQs (vocational technical qualifications) which potentially offer work experience as part of the course.

Shadowing

Work shadowing involves following an employee as they go about their daily business in the office, on site, or wherever it is they carry out their role. This will give you a good insight into their particular role, without doing much of the hard work yourself.

Tapping into family and friends

It's worth finding out if the people around you can help with offering up any work experience opportunities. This is also a great chance to flex those networking muscles, as building those early will pay dividends later on.

Insight events

These are normally coordinated through careers organisations or by specific companies, and offer a few days where you can find out more about particular sectors, including IT, law, and finance.

Other ways on how to get work experience include getting a part-time job, doing some volunteering, attending company open days and events, or helping someone you know with their business on a casual basis.

Deciding what to do for work experience – job search tips

Now that you know how to get work experience, it's worth focusing on what you want to do. So how do you go about deciding which work experience to plump for? Here are some pointers:

Pinpoint the industry

It's much simpler to find work experience when you know which sector you want to work in, so put some research into it.

Top tip: Draft a list of ideal sectors or fields of industry to explore. Then go for it by pursuing them with a phone call or email application.

Set targets

What do you want to achieve once you've found work experience? Asking this will help focus your mind and keep you motivated throughout the work experience tenure.

Start the search

The beauty of work experience is that if you find something, and it turns out to be not at all what you expected, then you can change your mind, and move onto something else. The key is to get started and motivated as soon as possible.

Conduct thorough research

The National Careers Service has a plethora of careers to scroll through for inspiration. There's even a skills assessment you can undertake to guide you further. Looking on job boards can pique an interest, as these give you more insight about day-to-day responsibilities of a particular job.

Draft an impressive CV

Chances are you don't have a whole heap of work experience to add to a CV. But don't despair. We all have to start somewhere. A well-written one-page summary of your education, skills, and interests, with no mistakes, will go a long way to impressing a business owner, as it shows a proactive approach.

It can be an overwhelming time finding out how to get work experience. But with the support of your family, and guidance from TopCV, you'll nail it. For further help, run your CV through our free review so you know how to improve it before applying for work experience placements.

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