Latest poll results - 62% of students think ‘real’ work experience is the best thing about a work placement!
Our latest poll has been running for over a week now, and the results are in.
When asked what is the best thing about a work placement:
- 62% of students voted for ‘real’ work experience
- 33% voted for the money
- ….and the academic 4% voted for helping your final year studies!
It is clear that there are many, many positive aspects of going on a work placement or internship, however it does appear clear that work experience is the number one benefit. (Although the money is nice!)
In today’s increasingly competitive graduate environment, it is vital that students are able to make their CV’s stand out from the crowd, and a work placement or internship is the perfect way to do this.
To any graduate readers of this Blog, we’d love to hear your comments on using your work placement or internship experiences to secure a graduate position. To those students looking to embark on a placement, what aspects are you most looking forward to?
February 7th, 2008 at 5:31 am
i’d completely agree, the average wage is relatively low so you haven’t got a chance to save a significant sum of money. i think i saved around £500…
February 12th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I am looking for a placement and i’m looking to mainly gain experience of the working world, however it would be nice to have some money! are all the jobs low paid? I have mainly found jobs available around 14 to 15k, is this low for a placement job?
February 13th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Hi John and Michelle
Thanks for your comments.
John - to comment on your post - I think you’re generally right, even the guys earning £25k plus working in the City struggle to save money due to the obvious costs of life in London. I do know a few people who managed to save some decent money for their final year however; I myself lived at home whilst I was on placement so did manage to save a bit - although ‘Freshers Fortnight’ saw to most of that!!
I know from my own experience and from many of my fellow graduates that being able to talk about experiences on work placement or internship during an interview is such an advantage, and employers love to hear real working examples.
Michelle - the range in salaries really does vary, anything from £10,000 to up to £25,000+! The average salary is around £12,000 - £15,000 however. I think it’s important to remember that the highest paid salaries are not always the best - far from it in fact! You only need to search through our reviews to see some of the highly rated yet relatively low paid jobs that are out there.
Chris