The Advantages of Working as an Undergraduate

Written by: MARY Meng

Nick Collard, a former student who graduated bachelor degree of Business Studies at the University of Portsmouth Business School, and now the Commercial Director at Boots the Chemist, once said “I have been lucky enough to have a successful career and in my mind a key factor in this was the placement year at Sainsbury’s head office. I feel passionately that this opportunity really gave me a fantastic head start versus my peers.” In this statement, Nick Collard was thankful to the placement year program of the university that led him to have a successful career, and gave him a fantastic head start. To know clearly about the statement, I want to tell you some information about the placement year program. In fact, the program was formally called “Work Placements for Undergraduate Student”, and was established, through the aim of the University of Portsmouth Business School, to provide the students the opportunity to explore the world of work. It typically takes place 48 weeks or a year after year two and then students return to the university to complete their final year. The importance of this program is relevant work experience at undergraduate level, and one-year period of employment on students’ degree. According to this information, I can tell you that Nick Collard started his career with one-year period work experience he had done when he was an undergraduate student and that work experience gave him a fantastic starting to have a successful career. These are all about the British man Nick Collard. How about you?

Photo by: MARY Meng

I know that through the statement of Nick Collard cannot make you clear about what I want to tell, so let’s spend some time discuss the advantages of working as an undergraduate. First, I will show you what skills and experience we gain from working while in college. Second, I will show you how skills and experience you have gained help you prepare for a future career. Finally, I will teach you how to apply for a job while in college.

The undergraduate students, mostly the junior year students, should work to expand their skills and experience before they start to compete for a good job and high position after graduate, so let’s start our first point – what skills and experience we gain from working while in college.

Now, let’s imagine that you work for a company while in college. When you work for a company, you will have a chance to take what you have learned at school, to practice at work. So, you will gain your expertise or major skill directly. In other words, working for a company makes you know how to communicate with people around you. It means that you gain your communication skill. For example, a company has many kinds of people who meet you everyday, so you will learn to be flexible to deal with them. Moreover, resourceful person would be you. There are many things and problems that you see at your workplace, so you will upgrade your general knowledge and will be able to solve problems that will come to you one day. Additionally, as you are an undergraduate student who is working for a company, you will get back work experience and recommendation of internship that it will help you in future.

As you have gained skills and experience, let’s continue imagine that you have just graduated, which brings you to the second point – how skills and experience help you prepare for a career in future.

Now, you are the graduate student who has skills and experience, and it’s time for the career that you have prepared for. As you have work experience in your hands, you will not difficult to find work. Many of employers would simply prefer to hire someone who has work experience to any of whom has only the amounts of knowledge. Let’s imagine that you were given a chance to do the job. Here, I strongly believe that you are not the one who does not know how to start the work, and how to get the work done. According to your experience, you will know easily the work process of your expertise, and have self-confidence to do your work. So, I think it’s time to make your work done successfully and be promoted to higher position.

As you imagined that you worked for a company while in college and imagined that you worked for a company after you graduated, now please return to present and prepare to start your real activities which brings you to the final point – how to apply for a job while in college.

Now, to make you understand easily about how to apply for a job while in college, I divided it into 7 steps. The first step is creating a resume. To start to apply for a job, you need to have a resume, and it’s better if you already have it. Of course, you have to write your resume to different companies, because it gives you the opportunities for the job. The second step is asking the student affair office at the university you are attending. Many of companies sometimes only want students from your college to work for them, so you have a good chance of getting a job through those companies. The third step is looking at bulletin board on campus in your college. Many companies post their requirement on the bulletin board, and it’s the chance for you to check them and note one or few that interest you. The fourth step is asking your friends. You have to ask your friends who already have a job. They might know if their company is hiring, and it’s a good chance for you if the answer is “yes”. The fifth step is putting your resume in the companies that interest you. However they are not hiring at this time, but they will keep your resume until the time they want to hire. The sixth step is checking online for the job. There are many websites tell you the companies that is recruiting personnel, for example, “www.camhr.org”. It is a big chance that you can choose and search the history of the companies. The final step is reading the newspapers. Generally, the company that wants to hire the personnel usually advertises in the newspapers, and this is the great way to find job.

As we are all the undergraduate students who have discussed the advantages of working as an undergraduate, we should get ready to look for a job.

Today, we have discussed three main points that we have to consider and practice is what skills and experience we gain from working as an undergraduate, how skills and experience help us prepare for a career in future, and how to apply for a job while in college. We have also discussed about the experience of Nick Collard that we should follow. I strongly recommend that everyone look for a job while in college, because it is a great experience to find out the real world of work. In conclusion, starting a career with work experience you have done while in college is the fantastic head start to achieve a successful career in your life.