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Summer work experience
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Work & Study
Hey.
Well, as it looks apparent I may be going home soon, I was thinking in the summer, between various holidays and things, I could do some work experience.
However, I think I'd like to work in a variety of places, to build up my skills profile, but do employers 'in the future' prefer you to have one big work placement. Of course, in the summers between uni when im settled and am working through my degree, relevant work placements aren't out of line, but it would be nice to get a variety...
What do you think in all seriousness? Is it just silly? Although it sounds 'snobbish', i really don't want to spend the year just working in retail earning minimum wage. I don't mind if I only get a bit of cash from work experience, say two - three weeks per company. So, maybe work in a factory for a few weeks, then an office, then.. a national park - get a really good variety in.
Well, as it looks apparent I may be going home soon, I was thinking in the summer, between various holidays and things, I could do some work experience.
However, I think I'd like to work in a variety of places, to build up my skills profile, but do employers 'in the future' prefer you to have one big work placement. Of course, in the summers between uni when im settled and am working through my degree, relevant work placements aren't out of line, but it would be nice to get a variety...
What do you think in all seriousness? Is it just silly? Although it sounds 'snobbish', i really don't want to spend the year just working in retail earning minimum wage. I don't mind if I only get a bit of cash from work experience, say two - three weeks per company. So, maybe work in a factory for a few weeks, then an office, then.. a national park - get a really good variety in.
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But a bit of pocket money would be lovely, I'm going on a holiday with friends, a holiday with my girlfriend and a holiday with my mum (not long breaks, mostly camping lol) and it would be nice to take £100 or so each time. Also, will be finishing driving lessons and they're by no means cheap
But I really don't want to do retail again
Since they've been temping jobs none have ever lasted more than about 6 weeks, so during the summer I get a nice variety.
Sorry, that made me chuckle.
Well, write around and see what you can find... admin/office work, call-centres, delivering leaflets... the list goes on really.
What Kazbo said about temping sounds like a good option for summer jobs. I'm sure there are websites for students wanting to find summer work to... have a google?
Sounds perfect really. Are you allowed to turn them down though, say you're going on a holiday for a week? Or are they fixed and fast things?
I agree with what Kazbo said, if temp you can get good money and a variety of jobs. Best thing to do with hoildays is try to have them between the jobs, you are entitled to holiday as a temp, but most companies wouldnt look favourably if you took a week off during a 4 week job.
You'd probably be better off (for you future, for the now and financially) finding something constructive to do and develop some kind of skills.
From what I've understood you're likely to be leaving uni relatively soon. That will give you 7 months which is a fairly long time. Signing up with a temp agency is a good plan, you may get some variety through that, but you may get reasonable stints in some of the jobs during which you could learn a lot. Temp jobs you can say yay or nay to as and when you fancy.
As for work experience, because of minimum wage, they can either pay you properly, or they don't pay you at all (usually the latter). So you aren't likely to get any money out of work experience at all. Sorry if that disappoints you.
You don't have to work in retail for minimum wage. Lots of people leave education at 16/18 and find jobs, go hunting for one of them. Be honest when you apply for things, but not overly. You'll have your time at uni on your CV, and you'll need to explain why you're not there now. You went to York to do Maths, you didn't like it and you've decided to take some time out, may well go back to education in the future but in the meantime are looking for a job.
I've turned them down in the past when I've not been interested or I've had other things on. Generally if I have holidays planned then I tell them when I let them know I'm available for work, otherwise, before I start I job I let them know of any plans so they can confirm that's ok with the company. You get a certain amount of days paid holiday dependent on the number of days you've worked for them.
I like helping people - I used to volunteer as a Maths tutor at kumon maths (til I found out they charged the kids' parents shitloads, and felt I was getting taken advantage off really as a volunteer. The kids were great tho
I don't like it when the bosses are a bit arsey / attitudey and don't respect you, I guess to them you're just 'the labour' but still, I hate it when they're rude and make you feel rubbish when you're doing more than you should anyway (i.e. trying to emotionally blackmail you into overtime - in fact at the co op they put you down for overtime and then notify you, not ask you - although in the contract it does say sometimes you need to be lenient, it's quite rude if you've made plans and they tell you that same week that you've got an extra 6 hours to do or so).
I do like doing something where I can see the fruits of my labour - for example, fixing things or setting things up. It's a good feeling when you repair someones PC and it's working twice as fast as when they first got it
I don't like doing mundane repetitive tasks that don't challenge me. Although I normally try to turn them into a challenge (i.e., every week at the co op [fairly large superstore size] I had to go round every shelf, and had to clean the shelf stripping - took about an hour I think.. I tried to beat my last time hehe).
Though, at the end of the day, beggars can't be choosers. Mum's just told me Next's call centre or something has vacancies, so I guess I'll send in a CV. Wherever I can get a job really...
Don't rule out the possibility of interning/doing work experience for an accountancy firm (or whatever you want to going into after uni) at least for a couple of weeks, even if you spend most of the summer doing work for proper dosh. Internships always look great on CVs and it'll demonstrate your commitment to it as a career, making it hopefully easier to get your foot in the door when you come out of university.
*excited* (for those interested, it's working with a technology journalism company as an administrative / advertising underdude)
That's not the attitude to take, you've gotta have faith in yourself Shyboy! Same with internships, yes, a lot of them are rediculously competitive, but that shouldn't deter you from applying. You could also write a few spec letters to accountancy firms in your area and see whether they'll put up with you for a couple of weeks, even if they're not running official schemes
Good luck