Employers and past students give us their thoughts on the benefits of getting involved from your first year and suggest some ideas for getting started!
"I worked for Abercrombie and Fitch one day a week as a student - it gave me a good look inside the company. It helped me decide if I liked this type of work in specialist retail and my part-time experience led to a management position after graduation."
Griffin Wagstaff, Manager of Recruiting
"We appreciate applicants who have a range of work experience built up from the first year, whether voluntary or paid, student jobs or more traditional internships. You should be confident that the work experience has value, even if it is not directly related to finance, and be prepared to explain how it links to the skills we are looking for."
Vanessa Doust, Campus Marketing Executive
"When recruiting graduates, we look for great work experience demonstrating your leadership skills whether with in charity, voluntary organisation or paid work, and especially like customer service based experience. Building this up over a few years and demonstrating how it relates to our business is key."
Jo Gidley, Graduate and Campaign Recruitment Manager
"Employability skills are essential when working in a Finance team within Commerce & Industry - especially within an SME given the varied nature of the work and the fact that you will be working closely with operational colleagues. The Storage King Finance team is in constant contact with our Business Managers across the UK so strong communication skills and empathy are both important; we also work with the European Management Team so we look for experience of working in teams when recruiting."
Rod Craig, ACA, Finance Manager
"We work with smaller entrepreneurial companies, so having good communication skills is key for us. Developing these skills over time through work experience and other activities from your first year onwards helps you stand out from other jobs applicants."
Vicky Inch, Manager - Tenon Academy and HR Projects
"The best time for students to make contact with employers is in their first year. The sooner that students start thinking about what they want to do after graduation the better, especially in a tight economic climate."
Carl Gilleard, Chief Executive
