Why all work experience is good experience if you want a top graduate job.

How did you get a job as an au pair if you didn't have any experience working with children, surely this is a requirement ?

I'm not that small. I'm just definitely not tall.

I'm not that small. I'm just definitely not tall.

Maybe. I do have a foot on you, and I don't just mean my dick.

there's recent research showing that for estate agents (probably a job with a many typical grad job characteristics) it's the skills of graduates rather than the oft vaunted 'graduate skills' which count http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3222/abstract

Marmite can you calm yourself please. This is a serious thread.

Are you saying my footlong Sub has no bearing on the usefulness of work experience?

solid write up!

Thanks, and i agree with everything you've said here. Formal programmes are great, but, doing unconvential things (i.e. Au pair, fundraising etc) is what can really set you apart! even more important is being able to learn from these experiences and communicate the skills one has gained in doing them across to the interviewer.

this.

prsom


100%

You basically just This'd my this.

I agree that employers like to see real work experience and not just a string of fancy sounding internships, but I don't agree people should do 'different' jobs just for the sake of standing out. Doing a job that interests you and/or is related to the industry you want to work in is, I think, much more important. After all, nobody wants an Au Pair who's more interested in padding their CV than playing with the children!

That is not really what I was saying.

x

I know what you said. You implied people should do something a bit different because employers notice it more... which is fine if the job interests you, but if it doesn't, you're wasting your time.

I don't believe that you're wasting your time. I can't say being a waitress particularly interested me on an academic or intellectual level. But working with a variety of people and under pressure and knowing how to gauge customers' personalities went a long way in developing me.

I actually didn't say it was because employers notice it more alone as the purpose for this post or telling people it's imperative for anything ever (it isn't- a lot of my friends still did fine without the variety of stuff I've done and following the more formal types of experience so I don't think that at all). I suggested it's actually doing it less for that purpose- as in doing it for yourself and your own individual development and then indirectly you will come across better, be more rounded, and be different.

Also I edited my reply because I submitted it too quickly.

Just to clarify I wasn't talking about you personally. I'm just saying people should, I think, avoid au pairing, teaching English in some god forsaken country, working for a charity or other 'off the wall' jobs unless they themselves find it interesting and want to do it for its own sake. In short, I hope nobody reading this decides to be an au pair just to impress a potential employer.

Thanks for that.

I will apply probably this November for grad schemes I am currently a 2nd year. What tips would you give me? I currently have 3 years work experience at a restaurant, 1 year at a supermarket and 3 weeks at a Mail Centre. Do you think these experiences would be enough? I want to apply for business related roles at Accenture, IBM, Sainsburys and a few others...