Acquiring experience allows you to experiment with and better understand your career ideas, while also evidencing skills and professionalism to future employers. For aspiring entrepreneurs, acquiring experience provides you with the skills and the mind set needed to test and launch your idea.
Acquiring experience will look different for each person depending on what sector you want to get into, your personal situation and your preferred learning style. You might:
You can acquire experience at any point during university. It’s a good idea to acquire experience in your first or second year when possible though, as this prepares you for making applications in your final year, or getting your enterprise or freelance career off the ground. You don’t necessarily need to have chosen a career to acquire work experience: all experience is useful for developing skills and refining career ideas.
We have strongly recommended below the services which focus primarily on helping you acquiring experience. The other services listed as ‘take a look’ and ‘might be useful’ may help you acquire experience but are geared more towards other stages of the career journey.
Work in a team with other Queen Mary students on a real-life consultancy project, gaining skills and experiences you can use in future work/study applications.
Find out about companies you may want to get experience with and build your network.
Get a deep understanding of a particular career or industry and be supported with finding work experience through one-to-one mentoring with a professional.
Undertake a 40 hour project with a business/charity that is part-time to fit around your studies, gaining experiences you can use in future applications.
Gain paid temporary work around your studies that will allow you to develop professional skills.
Browse live opportunities which will enable you to develop different types of experience.
Intern in a paid role full time or part time, developing skills and gaining experiences that you can use in future applications.
Use one of our services designed to develop your entrepreneurial skills or, if you are interested in starting your own enterprise, to test out your idea.
Book a one-to-one appointment to get feedback on your application for an opportunity.
Use a careers appointment to discuss how you can find or create work experience opportunities and meet relevant professionals to get insights into your desired career.
Use a careers fair to find out more about the range of internship opportunities available.