4 lessons to gain from Internships

The annoying cycle of applying for grad jobs and either not hearing back, or hearing back only to be told that you don’t have the necessary experience to be considered for the role.

I’m sorry, but how else are you going to gain that experience if employers are not willing to give you that opportunity? This is where the dreaded word ‘Internships’ come into play.

A lot of people look down on internships because of the low, or sometimes even non-existent pay. Yes, I agree time is money, and you should be paid for your work. However unpaid internships (within reason) show great resilience and passion for your chosen field.

Now, of course, you don’t want to go overboard and accept every single unpaid opportunity you come across, as this will not work in your favour when applying to paid jobs. However, once you do gain that Internship, paid or unpaid, there are a lot of things that you will start to discover. I have put together a list of 4 lessons you will learn from undergoing an internship, to help you to understand just how valuable they can actually be.

Top 4

1. Organisation

Organisation plays a key role in…well, just about everything. Since interning, I have learnt that it is a very vital skill you need in all walks of life. You will soon learn the art of to-do lists and the wave of satisfaction that flows within you once you begin to tick items off. A lot of note taking will take place also, don’t trick yourself into thinking that that piece of information will stay in your head!

2. Clarity

Think of internships as a trial run. Almost everything has the ability to look good on paper, however, you will never truly know whether your dream job is actually something that you want to pursue, until you try it out. Interning is a great way to do just this without any long-term commitment.

3. Time-Keeping

Internships are a great way to perfect the art of great time keeping & prioritisation. These skills are needed in all aspects of life, once they are learnt at this level, the easier they are to transfer and apply to pretty much anything

4. How to converse 

Conversing/small talk in the working world is daunting but necessary. You never know what doors are waiting to be opened or what contacts are yet to be made, just by striking up a conversation. Stuck on what to talk about? Maybe start by connecting with team members on LinkedIn. This way you’ll be able to grow your connections whilst also having a peek at their interests, giving you somewhat of a direction for future conversations.

That is all for now! Thank you for reading, hopefully, this has helped someone somewhere. If you have any more tips or suggestions feel free to leave them in the comment section below.

Dealing with unemployment after University

The U word

Unemployment is unfortunately something all of us have, or will one day have to experience.  My first encounter with unemployment came straight after I had left university. Stuck in an awkward situation of not having experience whilst not being granted the opportunity to gain experience, did nothing to improve the situation.

I figured as the majority of third years have now finished University, it would be a good time to share a few tips centred around the way in which I dealt with unemployment.

Please note that I am by no means an expert at this, I am just sharing the things that I found useful in the hopes that it might help at least one person.

So you’re unemployed

For some, unemployment may feel like the end of the road before the journey has even begun. What we need to understand is that it is only the beginning, and we need to embrace it. By embrace, I don’t mean to binge watch Netflix for hours upon end (as tempting as it may seem haha), but to make good use of the 24 hours a day we are gifted, by doing the things that we otherwise wouldn’t have time for when working a full-time job.

Tip 1: Learn a language

Having an additional language is such an amazing skill. Not only does it look great on your CV, it also helps to strengthen your memory, as you’ll be learning new words and phrases. Not to mention you’ll also have an excuse to visit the country and put your new language skills to the test.

Duolingo is a great free tool used to help with the basics and can be accessed on a wide range of devices, it is made up of short yet challenging exercises proven to give you that head start to gaining fluency.

In addition to Duolingo there are a bunch of podcasts and YouTube videos that can be used to further enhance your language learning.

Tip 2: Start a blog/Build a portfolio

If like me you are looking to get into the creative industry, then this is a very important step. Most companies ask for a compilation of your work so it’s good to have this more or less ready in advance. Start off by taking a look at those who are already in your desired industry and pull inspiration from them.

WordPress and Wix are good places to host digital portfolios/blogs and are free to create.

Tip 3: Enrol in free online classes

Online classes are a great way to pass the time whilst also expanding your knowledge.

Websites such as Future Learn and OpenLearn offer a wide range of free online classes at different levels. The course you choose is completely up to you, whether you want to do something aligned with your desired career, or study something for the fun of it, the choice is yours.

Tip 4: Travel

This list would not have been complete without the inclusion of travelling

If you have the financial capability to do so, then travel as much as you can. Life is too short and the world is too big to spend it in one place. Who knows when you will next get the opportunity to travel the world. In most organisations you only get around 23 days off per year, which isn’t a lot when you come to think of it.

If finances are an issue, then it is worth considering a working holiday visa. More details can be found on the Bunac website.

That’s all for now

If you’ve made it this far, then thank you so much for reading. Hopefully you have found this useful. If you have any more tips or suggestions then please feel free to leave them in the comments 🙂

Life after graduation

Initially, life after uni is little awkward blip. You haven’t graduated yet so technically speaking you’re still a student.

However, once Graduation comes and goes (rather quickly), you’re left in a constant state of confusion and comparisons. As if the non stop questioning from family and friends regarding your next steps weren’t enough, your parents start to bang on about how your “age-mates” (who have also just graduated)  have managed to bag their “dream job”.

It seems like every other Facebook status is centred around new jobs and new milestones, all of which leaves you questioning when your time will come. If like me you have virtually no idea what career you’re looking for, this period of time seems to be the longest.

I remember getting rejection email after rejection email, some from Jobs I didn’t even recall applying to. It got to a point where I just gave up. I had a part time waitressing job on the side, so I picked up a few more hours there and just decided to live out the rest of my days amongst hot plates and coffee cups…This was short lived.

Customers started to ask what I was doing on the side, whether or not I was actively looking for Jobs, my future career plans. I could not escape the questions, which in some way forced me to be honest with myself and come up with a plan. (My plan included running away to a different country but we will come back to that another time haha).

I think what I wanted to say, is that just because you haven’t reached your goals or achieved certain milestones, it does not mean that some day you wont. Talking from experience it is extremely hard to overcome the comparisons but just try to remember that God’s timing is the best timing. It hasn’t happened yet because it’s not meant to. One day you’ll be able to look back and realise that the wait just made you that more appreciative of what’s to come 🙂

What I wish I knew before University

Everyone usually claims that university guarantees us the best years of our lives, we’re always told to enjoy and make the most of our time there.

But what they fail to tell you is that you might not have the best time. You might even uncover all sorts of mental health issues you weren’t aware of. You might be crippled with social anxiety, even getting to the point where you end up locking yourself in your room for days upon end just to escape from the outside world & everyone in it.

University isn’t for everyone, but in some cases we are pressurised to see it as the only option. There are so many opportunities we haven’t even explored because we are told that if it’s not university then it’s not good enough.

There’s no end date to education, so if you want to explore other avenues or travel for a while then do so. We are so caught up in adhering to societies standards that we start to live in a way that will please others but not ourselves. We are forcing & contouring ourselves to fit into moulds that weren’t created for us. Even though it may seem otherwise, not everyone has their lives together in their early twenties, so why should you?

We have the freedom to be who we want to be & chase our dreams as seemingly unconventional as they might be.

Adina

Day 27: what’s a problem have or have had in the past?

I would say that a problem I have had & still have to a certain extent, is to do with self confidence (well the lack of).

I’ve aways been a reserved person but this was highlighted even more when I went to Uni. I found it quite hard to make friends & push myself out of my comfort zone, which in turn led to me being rather lonely.

This is probably when the self confidence issues started to creep in.

When you are alone 95% of the time, it becomes so easy to get trapped in your own head & be consumed by self destructive thoughts.

There would be times where I wouldn’t leave my room for days due to crippling social anxiety & the fear of being judged on my appearance.

I still find it quite hard to socialise with people, especially those I don’t know but I’m not as bad as I used to be.

Adina