Work experience and internships are not just about adding that bit of glamour to your CV, or networking your way into a cushy graduate job. The benefits of meeting new people because they might be nice – rather than they might offer you a job are completely bypassed in the panic to prove yourself in the job market.
Last week I spent three days as a sometime researcher/photocopier at a weekly magazine. Rather than running around the office pestering everyone for tasks to fill another few squashed lines on my CV I took the novel approach of having a coffee with someone who I got on well with. A human being. Not an automaton who might, just might (although its very unlikely) offer me a little networking opportunity.
I asked her where I went from here, and she pointed me in the direction of a few people I could contact for more work experience. I showed her my CV and she suggested a few corrections. She also suggested a course that might make me stand out from the pack. All done in just over an hour, and for the price of a cappuccino.
I can’t pretend that I didn’t put those three days onto the top of my CV, or that I didn’t embellish it so it looked like I was practically running their office. But much more worthwhile was finding someone decent enough to take a little bit of time out to offer advice and talk to me as a friend.
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