Graduate jobs work experience

Work Experience

The purpose of work experience is it assists you in achieving a number of things:

• it defines what you do and often what you don't want to do
• it helps you gain key skills
• it helps understand the general world of work a company culture
• it allows you to make industry contacts
• it allows you to develop skills which can differentiate you from other candidates

Why do some employers value relevant work experience highly?

• you are less of a risk as you can demonstrate you can do the job
• a previous employer allows a potential to request a solid reference
• it will take less time to train you and therefore you are more cost effective
• contacts made previously can often be transferred to a new a new employer (this can often be useful in sales roles)

The trick with understanding the context of work experience is understanding what you have done to date and presenting it in a way which relates directly to a potential employer. To do this it would help to create a work experience audit. Think about the company and your contribution along the lines of the following headings:

• your role - role title, duration, start date, location
• the company - big / small, revenues, products, departments
• the Market - how has market developed, competition, regional / global, market value, market share
• how you fitted in - what you did on a day to day basis, how your role fitted in to the overall contribution, of delivery of service for example or contribution to revenue or reporting and subsequent decision making
• skills required and learnt - what were the key elements learnt which would be of value to other employers?
• Achievements - did your or your departments actions have any impact on the overall success of the organisation or improvement in the department?

Once you have done this for the work experience you have had to date, you will be able to pick certain pieces of information and recall them in either interview or on application forms. This will also help you identify what you're good at, what you enjoyed during your work experience to date and use them as indicators as to which direction you might take in the future.

That all very well and good but what if I don't have any or relevant work experience?

Chances are you'll have had some sort of part-time job either during the summer or whilst at University. All experience is relevant and it's easy to overlook good work, management of others and planning as 'just part of the job'. Providing you don't go overboard and start dressing up roles into something that they clearly aren't there shouldn't be an issue.

If you have none at all then try and get something sorted even if it's some temporary voluntary work just to demonstrate that you are keen to succeed, have a positive attitude. Then use this expertise to demonstrate that you can perform effectively as part of a team and make a difference.