Seven ways to gain experience

Work experience is an opportunity to explore your options and learn new skills.

“Make the most of every opportunity! You never know where something is going to take you, or who you might meet on that journey.

Esme Herman, Anthropology, Magdalen College, 2020 Work experience can be: • A way to develop valuable skills and accomplish something noteworthy. • A chance to try out possible career directions. • An opportunity to make contacts in fields that interest you. • A chance to earn money.

Work experience provides a valuable opportunity to develop awareness and understanding of yourself: what really interests you, how you like to work, and what you find most fulfilling.

It also has a very important role in enhancing your employability. In a study of major graduate employers (High Fliers 2017), half of the recruiters surveyed warned that graduates with no work experience were unlikely to be successful in applying for graduate-level jobs in their organisations. This is because work experience: • Enables you to enhance and apply your skills. • Provides evidence of your skills and achievements that you can highlight in your applications and talk about in interviews.

There’s lots of work experience that you can do. For example, student committee roles, volunteering, summer jobs and individual projects. What you’ve chosen to do already can be a useful clue as to what other forms of work experience and ultimately, jobs, might be fulfilling, as outlined in the earlier section on Developing Your Career Ideas. Here are seven ideas to get you started.

1 Do an internship

A short fixed period of paid work experience in an organisation, usually working on a graduate-level, structured project or a defined set of tasks, which is designed for “ someone hoping to enter the profession.

These might be advertised opportunities requiring an application, or arranged with an organisation after contacting them speculatively. They can take place at any time of year, but most advertised opportunities take place in vacations, particularly the summer. Some organisations offer internships purely to provide interested students with some first-hand experience and do not expect to hire interns at the end of the period. Others use internships as a core part of their recruitment process, particularly major graduate recruiters, who often advertise summer internships for penultimate year students in Michaelmas term.

The Careers Service also runs The Oxford University Summer Internship Programme, a unique scheme exclusive to Oxford students which provides 4–12 week funded summer work experience across the globe.

2 Volunteer

Volunteering is a great way to develop employability skills and help others at the same time. As a volunteer you can work on projects or tasks that still use and develop your skills, but you have the added benefit of full flexibility and negotiable hours.

Here are a few suggestions for finding volunteering experience while at Oxford: • The Micro-Internship Programme – provides short-term learning and development experiences in Week 9 or 10 of each term based in organisations across the UK and beyond. • Oxford SU – organises diverse fundraising activities you can get involved in, including the annual RAG campaign. Oxford SU also wants volunteers for Target Schools and other programmes.

See www.oxfordsu.org • Oxford Hub – a student-run organisation that acts as a focal point for charitable activity in Oxford.

It co-ordinates a variety of volunteering projects in many sectors. You can visit its website at www.oxfordhub.org • Do-It – a web-based national database of volunteering opportunities. Search for projects in

Oxford at www.do-it.org • OCVA – Oxford Community and Voluntary Action is our local city volunteering hub, with lots of opportunities available: www.ocva.org.uk • UN Volunteers – international volunteering opportunities with a development focus: www.unv.org • Consider getting in touch directly with local organisations with causes you care about to discover if there’s something you could help with, or to suggest a project, both in Oxford or near your home.

3 Insight days/open days

Some organisations advertise insight days, giving students talks and tours at their place of work. These are often offered to help students who are interested in the industry make a more informed application, but are not offered in all sectors. Many major graduate recruiters will run company presentations and events in Oxford or virtually, where you can learn about the organisation, their recruitment processes and meet their staff.

How recruiters support equality and diversity

Recruiters are very keen to raise their profile with applicants from all backgrounds and to dispel perceptions that may deter applications. The best way to assess whether their projected image is ‘reality or myth’ is to speak with current employees.

A useful starting point can be the ‘buddy and mentor’ groups or forums (such as, LGBT and BAME forums), which many organisations now promote.

An increasing variety of organisations are also establishing internship programmes, insight days, networking events and mentoring opportunities to encourage a greater diversity of applications. Such opportunities will be focused on groups which an organisation feels are under-represented in their employee profile; so check what is available in the industries that you are most interested in. There may be opportunities that focus around gender, ethnicity or sexuality, or for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

You could also explore specialist organisations that support candidates from under-represented groups, such as Creative Access, SEO London or Rare. Alternatively, look for programmes run by specific employers, such as the Civil Service Fast Stream’s Summer Diversity Internship Programme.

“Take opportunities to try new things at Oxford. I did voluntary tutoring and was a postgraduate teaching assistant during my PhD, and these experiences have helped me when it comes to discussing complex ideas with clients.

Dr Francis Newson, Scientific Software Analyst. DPhil Particle Physics, Christ Church College, 2011

4 Work shadowing

Shadowing is a short period of time spent observing in a workplace. It can help you assess at first-hand whether a possible career might suit you, yet you don’t have to have the skills needed to actively participate in the work. For this reason, formal shadowing programmes are often offered in fields where further training is required in order to actively participate, such as the health professions or teaching.

It is actually not difficult to set up shadowing yourself in any industry. Contact the organisation or individual you would like to observe, and ask! If they are not able to help, you could ask whether anyone might be willing to have a conversation with you to help you learn more about the work they do.

5 Spring weeks/spring insight programmes

In an increasing range of sectors, organisations with larger graduate intakes now run one- or two-week insight programmes targeted for first years (and for second years on a four-year course). These discovery programmes often happen around Easter and usually have their own application process. In addition to offering participants industry insights and the chance to meet recent graduate recruits, they frequently include some skills development, advice on applications and may lead directly to offers for summer internships in your penultimate year of study. Some accept applications in Michaelmas, so start looking early! 6 Vacation and seasonal work

Seasonal jobs can provide money, an insight into an industry and demonstrate your adaptability and skills. They are often advertised in the few months preceding a vacation. They might be found on local employment websites, the organisation’s own website, through temping agencies, word-of-mouth or by signs on organisation premises. You might also be interested in organisations which offer seasonal work abroad (such as Work Away or WWOOF), some of which run on an accommodation-for-work (work exchange) basis.

7 Personal projects

Depending on your goals, you might want to generate your own experience. It could be: • Managing a ‘fantasy fund’ to demonstrate your passion for financial markets. • Creating a piece of work to add to your artistic portfolio. • Starting an entrepreneurial or charitable endeavour. • Using your technological skills to code a new website/ app/ game.

See if there are any local organisations that might be interested in using your project to help their work, or giving it publicity. Working with other organisations will give you new contacts and might lead toward referrals as well as increasing the scope for your project. These could all be added to your CV under ‘Relevant Experience’ or ‘Projects’.