Whether you are making a career change, or entering the job market for the first time, on-the-job experience is invaluable in giving you an edge.
Your studies will show a keen interest in your chosen field, but a work placement or internship demonstrates that you can apply what you’ve been learning online to a practical situation, making you that much more ‘employable’.
Here are just some of the ways work experience can impact your career development:
Competitive Edge
Teamed with relevant qualifications, work experience puts you yards ahead of other job candidates. Evidence that you have put your learning into practice strengthens your CV.
Before potential employers even meet you, you’ll come across as a well-rounded applicant with a demonstrated interest in the industry. In job interviews, hirers often ask you to give examples of workplace experiences that demonstrate the qualities and skills that they are looking for.
With real industry experience to draw on, you’ll give interviewers confidence in your ability to perform the role.
Test-drive Your Career
Thanks to your studies, you’ve learned A LOT about your desired industry. You feel pretty on-target with your career plan and you have a particular role in mind.
But what if there’s something you’ve overlooked? Perhaps you didn’t realise that the job requires you to be isolated for hours on end when you are a passionate people person.
The only way to truly know if this is the right job for you is to get off the books and into the workplace!
"Industry placement can help you fine tune the types of paid positions you will apply for once you recognise where your strengths, talents and preferences lie."
Work experience gives you the opportunity to gain insight into the day-to-day reality of your desired career – and could save you many unhappy years in a job that doesn’t suit you.
Skill Development
As much as the courses offered through Acquire Learning are designed to teach you real-world skills, there are some things that you just can’t learn until you are thrown into a hands-on situation.
Work experience is a chance to learn-by-doing. You’ll gain on-the-job skills that will be put to use day in and day out in your career, setting you up to hit the ground running in future jobs. Even if the insight you gain through work experience ends up steering you in a different direction, the transferrable skills you’ll learn from working under the supervision and guidance of industry professionals will benefit your career development.
Making Connections
Work experience is your “in” to the industry. We all know that networking plays a huge part in helping you stand out from the crowd of applicants when it comes to employment openings. Where better to meet and impress the connections that could give you a hand up in years to come?
But it’s not all about using connections to get a leg up on the career ladder.
"Even if you are just getting someone coffee, find opportunities to pick his or her brain."
A general rule for work experience is to ask a lot of questions.
The advice that you can get from someone with more experience than yourself could be much more valuable than any name-dropping.
Go in with a great attitude and you’ll come away from work experience with fantastic connections and potentially, role models.
