SMILE
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Unit 12: Preparing for placement

Why do Work Experience? The Employer's perspective

This is what two Graduate Employers say about the value of work experience:
"Graduates with a wealth of good quality work experience (voluntary or paid) have varied learning experiences and challenges that develop skills and competencies such as - commercial awareness, results focus, self development, tenacity, project management, diplomacy, flexibility, resilience and customer focus.

These are the key attributes that are required to be successful on our graduate programme and experienced graduates are typically able to articulate and demonstrate these skills/competencies within application forms and interviews more effectively".


Rebecca Fielding
Group Graduate Programme Manager


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  "We have found that graduates who have spent some time gaining work experience during their studies perform very strongly during interview. We are always looking for applicants who are born leaders, work well as part of a team, have bags of initiative and most importantly, possess strong communication skills.

Of the graduates that we recruit, those who have already worked in a similar customer facing environment tend not only to be more competent and developed in many of these skills sets but are also able to hit the ground running. It also demonstrates to employers that an applicant has a responsible attitude to work and has experienced life beyond the confines of an academic establishment".


Sara Varo
Recruiting Manage
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Activity: Are these statements true or false?

  • It is a way of finding out whether a particular job or type of work would suit me
  • The experience wil be good for my cv and application forms
  • Work experience will give me something to talk about in interviews
  • I might get paid!
  • There's no point in doing work experience unless it is in the job that I want to do when I graduate

Creative Commons License
SMILE - Preparing for Placement by Leeds Metropolitan University Employability Office, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/metoffice/employability/resources/learning_objects/workexperience/index.htm.