How to experience the jobs you’re interested in with in-person or virtual work experience
- How do you choose between possible career paths?
- How can you work out what you want to do for the rest of your life?
- How do you get experience so you can get the job, when you need the job to get experience?
Sometimes it can feel like getting a start in your career is a bit of a catch-22. Never fear, work experience is here.
What is work experience?
You get the chance go into a workplace and work alongside someone who’s in the job.
You might be given tasks to complete independently, or shadow someone on a project, or attend meetings to see what it’s really like to work in a particular career.
How do I get work experience?
You can
a) line up your own work experience opportunities,
or
b) work through an agency.
Option a) Find my own work experience
Employers love team players who show initiative, are self-motivated, and who proactively create opportunities. What better way to show that you are all these things than to set up your own work experience opportunities!?
What to do
- Work out the type of work experience you want to try
- With your ideal work experience in mind, brainstorm people you know (family, friends, careers advisors) and companies or organisations you’ve heard of (local businesses, universities, government agencies) who might be able to help.
- Add to your list of options with some research. Who’s close to you? Who’s working in an area you’d love to get experience in?
- Prepare a short blurb that introduces you, your interests, your skill set and what you’re hoping to get out of the work experience opportunity. Then ask for their help.
Your blurb is part-CV, part-fun facts, part just-trying-to-get-a-foot-in-the-door. Think: ‘I’d love the chance to chat about how we might be able to set up some sort of work experience.’ Not: ‘Here is a ten-page essay begging you to take me on.’
Bonus points: Want to really impress?
Tailor your blurb for each person you contact. Tell them specifically why you’re reaching out to them in particular. What is it about their business or organisation that you like?
- Now’s the fun bit: Contact the people and companies or organisations on your list and send them your blurb.
- Follow up a week later! The squeaky wheel really does get the grease. If you don’t follow up your initial contact, you’re basically waving a big flag that says ‘I don’t really care.’ If you follow up with a polite ‘Hi, just checking that you received my email, I’d really love the chance to chat’, you’re showing that you’re dependable, reliable and persistent. (Also great traits in a teammate.)
Help! No one’s getting back to me!
No sweat. That gives you a chance to show just how gritty you are. Return to Step A and try sending your blurb to another five people. Then another five. The world is full of stories about how persistence pays off. (Spoiler: That’s because it does!)
Option b) Go through an agency
If finding your own work experience seems like a mountain you don’t want to climb, you can go through a work experience agency.
The Australian government What’s Next site has a list of options including Volunteering Australia, Palms Australia, Workforce Australia, Seek Work Experience and volunteering agencies in your state.
What about virtual work experience?
I’m glad you asked. The modern workplace is increasingly virtual, and so is modern work experience.
To find online or virtual work experience opportunities, check out What’s Next’s list of online options, or take a look at UNSW’s Career Accelerator Virtual Experiences for free, online modules that simulate real-life tasks and projects.
You can complete them at your own pace, from home or school.
Do your homework
Whether you’re going through an agency or setting up your own work experience opportunities, make sure you’re doing your research and aware of your rights and responsibilities during work experience.
Experience is the spice of life
Find out what you like, what you don’t like. What makes you curious? What challenges you? What would give your career purpose and meaning and daily excitement? Work experience is one of the best ways to explore future careers, build confidence and discover what you enjoy. And don’t forget: you can list your work experience on your resume, along with the skills you developed on the job.
No matter how you do it, work experience opens doors. Start looking today!
