Nick Bird – Account Director at Spreckley
The phrase ‘work experience’ conjures up all sorts of images. For the more fortunate, it might be time spent in a high-flying, progressive and innovative environment, allowing someone to mix with the movers and shakers of industry. For others, it might be two weeks spent honing their tea-making skills or running the most undesirable of errands for the powers-that-be. Everyone has a story to tell from their first steps into the big, bad world of work, but what can’t be denied are the invaluable experiences learnt from an internship. Here are three examples:
Importantly work experience will help you to decide whether that area of work is somewhere you see yourself working in the future. By observing and working alongside professionals, you can speak to them and ask them questions about their jobs. All this will help you when choosing your future career or potential place to work.
Secondly, it gives you an opportunity to build relationships with professionals in a potential place of work. This will put you in an advantageous position if you are applying for a job in your chosen place for work experience. If people remember you from when you spent time working for them and you made a positive impression, then this will put you in a good position for the future.
Finally, and arguably the most important point, it gives you that first-hand experience employers are looking for. Critically, when I’m given a CV the first thing I will look for is employment history. Having a degree is fantastic, but if you haven’t worked or volunteered in a professional setting, then this could make it harder for you to find a job. Finding work experience in the field you want to work in presents a strong image of that person and almost instantly stands you out from the crowd.
This is something we advocate hugely at Spreckley. For three years, we’ve run our own successful internship scheme designed to give people a first-hand experience of agency life within the PR industry. We’re not looking for tea-makers (we have more than enough qualified experts in that department) but smart, enthusiastic and dedicated individuals looking to build a career. In return we provide comprehensive training and exposure to all facets of PR life – whether that is content creation including article writing and press release crafting, to pitching into the press and understanding account management structure. We’re always on the hunt for people, so if you’d like to find out more, please don’t hesitate to drop us a note: [email protected]