Where Do I Start?

A lot of students/graduates have been asking me the question ‘where do I start?’ and really there isn’t just one single answer. If you are struggling to figure out where to begin, check out my five pointers below. 

1) Do your research
When you first start hunting for work placements and even jobs, you’ll always need to do your research and to be quite persistent when researching. When I started looking for placements I spent every day on Google trying to find work placement opportunities. Definitely make sure you are using search engines, and even multiple search engines. It’s not easy getting placements in large well-known companies like Penguin, I still haven’t, so make sure you apply to any company large or small.    

Make sure you read my blog posts that are listed above, or even just articles that you find online relating to this topic because it will help you in the long run.

3) Use the blog links on my pages for ‘Intern Opportunities’
Don’t forget that as well as finding your own placements, there are my two pages on this blog which are dedicated to providing you with some good links. The companies may not be familiar to you but that doesn’t matter, you should be applying to anywhere you can and as early as you can.

4) Don’t be too selective
This really develops my point above in saying, don’t only apply to companies that you know, you need to expand your search as best you can because that will greater your chances. It’s usually a struggle getting any kind of work experience so, we can’t pick and choose (usually).

5) Be Organised and Persistent
To be organised, make sure you’ve done all the above and even expanded on them. Whilst you search for work placements it is always good to keep a log/record of all the places you have applied to and whether or not you have received a response.
To be persistent, make sure you research as much as possible, you need to really motivated to do this, and if you get no initial responses, let that motivate you more.