Application advice for work experience placements and internships

Top tips on being successful when you apply for work experience or an internship. In many cases employers are looking for potential future graduate employees when recruiting students for their placement schemes.

Before you begin any application for work experience, do your research – the more you know about the job and organisation, the easier it is to convince recruiters that you have the skills they want. This is a good way to show that you are interested and enthusiastic and make sure these qualities shine through in your application.

Anna Worsley, work placement project officer at the University of Leeds Careers Centre, explains: ‘In many cases employers are looking for potential future employees when recruiting students for their placement scheme and, in some cases, the recruitment and selection of placement students is given as much attention as the recruitment of permanent staff.’

Make sure you customise each work experience application. Anna advises, ‘Tailor each letter, CV or application form to each organisation. You need to prove that you are interested in working for them in particular as opposed to just looking for anything – even potential employers want to feel special!’

Sell your work experience skills

Once you’ve worked out what skills your work experience provider is likely to be looking for, you need to identify specific examples that show you’ve got what they need, and highlight them in your application wherever possible. Draw your examples from your studies and academic achievements, extracurricular activities, part-time or casual jobs and any previous work experience. Use our checklist to make sure you haven’t overlooked any potential examples of your skills.

Work experience application skills checklist

  • Communication skills. Any customer-facing experience; writing articles for student publications; writing publicity material for your club or society; crafting academic essays, reports and presentations.
  • Problem solving. Succeeding in creative aspects of your coursework; completing research projects; coming up with entrepreneurial ideas for a business competition.
  • Teamwork. Group projects; taking part in a sports team, society, club or committee; working as a team in your part-time job to complete a particular task.
  • Planning and organisation. Juggling academic work, social commitments and part-time work; arranging events or fixtures for your sports or social team.
  • Thriving under pressure. Dealing with any crises in your part-time job or during your time at university; working to an important deadline.

If your CV doesn’t include any prior work experience, use your academic studies and achievements and extracurricular activities to demonstrate your skills. Anna says, ‘Employers realise you’re looking for experience, so won’t always expect you to have prior experience, but they will expect you have skills they can utilise.’

Concentrate on your personal contribution to whatever it is you’re writing about and stress achievements and outcomes.

Work experience CVs and covering letters

Your covering letter is the first point of contact between you and the employer, so you’ll need to impress them to make sure they look at your CV. Show them that you know about the organisation and have considered what you want to get out of your work placement. Aim to come across as motivated and focused, but make sure your goals are realistic. Employers usually prefer a typed letter no longer than one side of A4.

Your CV, if requested by employers or included in a speculative application, is vitally important and requires a fine balance between lots of information and a concise format. It should reveal the breadth and depth of your interests and previous work experience but shouldn’t exceed two pages.

The traditional CV format has personal details followed by education and work experience (usually in reverse chronological order) followed by achievements, interests, and referees. Plan the information and layout, and pay particular attention to punctuation and grammar. If a part-time job or a course module is critical to your application, give it twice as much space as other, less important facts. Choose a neat font style and a point size that’s not too small. See targetjobs.co.uk/downloads for example CVs, and use your careers service for feedback.
Concentrate on your personal contribution to whatever it is you’re writing about and stress achievements, results and outcomes, quantifying them wherever possible.

Application forms for work experience

Application forms are designed to extract the right amount of information needed to select or reject you. If you examine the questions thoroughly, you can work out exactly what the organisation is after and adapt your answers to demonstrate the required skills. The size of the space available is also a clear guide as to how much detail an employer wants in response.

Online applications are increasingly popular, but need to be treated with just as much care as a paper form. Make sure you don’t lapse into informal web or text speak and abbreviations – this applies to sending out speculative e-mails too. If in doubt, err on the side of formality. Be meticulous about your spelling and grammar, draft your answers, print out a copy, proofread it and ask a friend or careers adviser to proofread it too.

Applying for work experience on spec

Speculative applications can be a way into organisations that don’t advertise work experience. A quick phone call will help you pinpoint who to address your letter to, which is vital if you’re going to show that you’ve tailored your application.

Look at the type of skills the employer values in its full-time employees and structure your CV and covering letter accordingly. Use your covering letter to explain what you want to get out of your work experience. State when you are available, and how long for – this is particularly important if you are unlikely to be paid.

How to cope with rejection

Anna suggests that a ‘no’ is ‘an opportunity to ask for feedback and improve your chances for future applications’. Rejection is never pleasant, but don’t let it dent your confidence. See if there’s anything you can learn from it and move on.

More advice to help you plan work experience, internships and placements