Work experience

Work experience is any employment you undertake prior to starting your career. It can be paid, unpaid, informal (i.e. bar work etc) or formal, e.g. a structured programme of work experience. Work experience allows you to develop key employment skills and can set you apart from other applicants. Employers value all sorts of work experience, be it bar work (ability to work under pressure), supermarket work (developing strong customer care skills) or a formal work placement in a blue chip company (developing business awareness and undertaking project work). The most important thing is to make sure you include all the skills you have developed in your different jobs and work experience opportunities on your CV - you might want to note these on your ePortfolio.

Types of Work Experience

Work Placement
A period of work experience, which can be paid or unpaid. This can be arranged through the university with an employer or by the student directly, and is for an agreed period of time, often during the summer vacation period. The most popular work placement opportunities may have closing dates of around Christmas. Placements sourced by the Careers Service's Work Placement Team are advertised here.

Sandwich (or industrial) placements
These paid placements often last for one year, and are assessed by the University. The placement has a credit value, is part of the degree programme, and recorded on the degree transcript. An industrial placement will add an extra year onto your degree, and are usually undertaken immediately prior to the final year of undergraduate study (e.g. between Level 3 and Level 4 of an 4 year degree programme). Students at the University of Aberdeen whose degree programme does not include an industrial placement, and who would like to take a year out to complete a placement, are welcome to do so. Please contact the Careers Service for further information.

Work-based projects
A specific piece of assessed work for a course, undertaken in collaboration with an employer or an organisation. This may, for example, form part of an MSc degree and replace the traditional university based research project. This can be arranged by either the student or in some cases, the relevant Programme or School.

Voluntary work
Any type of work undertaken for no payment, usually outside of your course and in your spare time. The Students' Association website has a full listing of volunteering opportunities.

Part-time work
Paid or unpaid work undertaken during term-time. For full listings of current part-time and term-time vacancies, visit the Students' Association website.

Work shadowing
Where a student observes a member of staff working in an organisation, and so gains an understanding of what a particular job entails. This is normally unpaid, and lasts for a short period of time (i.e. a day or up to a week). If you're applying to do some work shadowing, be clear about what you want to get out of it when you apply, and have some questions ready to ask when you're there, such as, "what can I do to increase my chances of getting into this area?".

Internships
Some companies use "internships" while others use "placements" to refer to a short period of time spent working within their organisation. Often these are paid, and are open to students approaching the end of their studies. Internships and placements may form part of the company's graduate recruitment programme - so a successful summer placement may result in a graduate job offer, meaning you return to your final year of studies knowing you have a job lined up for after graduation.

Vacation work
This could be paid part-time or temporary work for students or full time work for graduates looking to enhance their CVs or improve job prospects. Visit the Students' Association website for details of current opportunities.

Work Experience for Level 1 & 2 Students

Although work experience and placements can be targeted at students nearing the end of their studies, there are opportunities for first and second year students to gain experience. While it's good to gain any work experience (e.g. through a part-time job) you can also contact employers to see if their advertised opportunities are appropriate for your stage of study. Some companies also provide office-visiting opportunities or "insight days" to first and second years, to encourage applications to their placements in 3rd year. Read the eligibility for placements carefully too - some may require you to have completed two years of study, and others are available to students at any stage of study.

How to Find Work Experience

Applications for work experience are usually either through online application via the company's website, or by CV and covering letter. Alternatively you might like to get in touch with a company directly to see if there are any work experience or work shadowing opportunities available.

Help from the Careers Service

The Careers Service has dedicated staff members who support work experience and placement opportunities, including those exclusive to Aberdeen students. See the work placement section of the website for more details.

The Careers Service is happy to help you with your application (bring in a print off from the online application, or draft a CV for us to review) - and please book an appointment and come and to see us! While you're here, have a look at our library resource with further work experience information, or check the links below. If you're invited to an assessment centre or an interview we have resources to help you prepare for these too.

Further Information

Further information about work experience is available in our virtual library, which contains course-specific and occupation-specific information and advice.