How "bad" and/or unusual is it to graduate without much work experience?

So, i'm doing a degree in software engineering , and am going into second year. However, to this point, the only real work experience I have is doing some tutoring for family friends (i got paid for this but it was self employed).

I was planning on looking for internships / placement years but in case i wasn't able to find one, then i thought i'd do some projects and virtual internships instead, in different fields such as software development, data science/analytics or even stuff like audit, which im considering going into. I'm also going to do more volunteering in year2 and 3 and be part of more societies i think. would this help to make up for a lack of experience?

I guess my question is, how bad or unusual is it to graduate without a lot of experience? (like the people doing part time work for 3 years have relatively a lot of experience, so idk how bad that makes me look), and i guess more importantly, would this lack of experience kind of rule me out of some/most graduate schemes like big4, or like the barclays tech / nhs management schemes? how much experience do the schemes expect graduates to have?

also would graduating with the degree and not much experience other than tutoring screw me over for other entry level jobs in like admin or something?

thanks for your help!

Reply 1

Bruh-1776

I graduated without any work experience in my field which was engineering, but was able to get a relevant graduate job. When I progressed to the final interview, I made sure to google the top 50 questions they may ask and it worked. For my CV, I just put stuff I did in my degree and tailored it to whatever job I applied to. You could also do online courses and add it to your CV.

I do not think it is bad to graduate without job experience, and you do not need much or any for graduate schemes. The whole point of a graduate scheme is that they take potential students and fully train them up, they know that the average grad isn't going to have industry experience though it does help. This is why most of the grad schemes have their application process based on your potential using psychometric exams, behavioral interviews etc so focus on doing practise questions for them. This is especially important as the market is bad right now with high competition for jobs.

Reply 2

Al3x235

Original post by Bruh-1776

I graduated without any work experience in my field which was engineering, but was able to get a relevant graduate job. When I progressed to the final interview, I made sure to google the top 50 questions they may ask and it worked. For my CV, I just put stuff I did in my degree and tailored it to whatever job I applied to. You could also do online courses and add it to your CV.
I do not think it is bad to graduate without job experience, and you do not need much or any for graduate schemes. The whole point of a graduate scheme is that they take potential students and fully train them up, they know that the average grad isn't going to have industry experience though it does help. This is why most of the grad schemes have their application process based on your potential using psychometric exams, behavioral interviews etc so focus on doing practise questions for them. This is especially important as the market is bad right now with high competition for jobs.

oh hi thanks for the response!

yeah i assumed the schemes would want experience or something..but the use of the tests make a lot more sense now!

i guess i was a bit worried because if i didnt get a job in the field or in a grad scheme i dont really know what to do with my lack of experience 😆 - and i dont really want to tutor forever tbh lol

when did u graduate btw? i was interested in multiple fields like audit (weird ik) or some embedded stuff to combine my love for cars with code aha, so its good to know i can still do well

thank you!

Reply 3

Bruh-1776

Original post by Al3x235

oh hi thanks for the response!
yeah i assumed the schemes would want experience or something..but the use of the tests make a lot more sense now!
i guess i was a bit worried because if i didnt get a job in the field or in a grad scheme i dont really know what to do with my lack of experience 😆 - and i dont really want to tutor forever tbh lol
when did u graduate btw? i was interested in multiple fields like audit (weird ik) or some embedded stuff to combine my love for cars with code aha, so its good to know i can still do well
thank you!

I graduated last year and only got a graduate job a few months ago that starts in September.