It’s much easier to be reactive than revolutionary and critiques by definition tend to be more critical than complementary. And so it seems today with the reviews of a new government guide – Parent Motivators: A parent’s guide to helping graduates find work.

It effectively encourages parents to show ‘tough love’ towards their graduate offspring and the most rational review I have read was by Graeme Paton in yesterday’s Telegraph but today the Telegraph are on the attack via Philip Johnstone. It is a very well written article. (I myself am spending the next few days working from home and oddly my mother seems to agree with its sentiment!). Johnstone is clearly well read (and as per a previous blog I agree with him on higher education policy) but surely the report is merely a guide – not a directive – and I suspect that some parents outside of the home counties (and even some within judging by my experiences) might find it useful.

I also stumbled upon the ‘Dude Where’s My Career ‘ (DWMC) blog response which is very amusing but like today’s Telegraph article it assumes that Peter Mandelson wrote it and that he should be concentrating on other things and wasting less money (NB: I am no fan of the government but let’s not forget that neither the Tories nor Mandy have ruled out working together when Labour are evicted from power on 25th March).

I confess, I haven’t read the report cover to cover and it might seem a little patronising but it was written by Denise Taylor (Award winning career coach and author of ‘How to get a job in a recession’) and not Mandy (though his Business Innovation and Skills department did produce it). Denise’s credentials as a chartered psychologist and MBA are substantiated by her experiences working with organisations ranging from Vodafone to Christian Aid. All this and from her Tweets (@amazingpeople), it would appear that she even reads NME so she can’t be all bad. In fact she’s probably better qualified than most to write such a guide and I suspect that BIS are merely endorsing it and giving her a platform.

The glaring omission from the report itself was obviously not to mention WEXO in the Useful links section. Joking apart though, the government’s shortcomings are better demonstrated by their failure to research and support private sector initiative and their tendency to try to do things (badly) themselves. We are actively promoting their BIS and LDA programmes to subsidise companies taking on interns and promote paid graduate endeavour (email info@wexo.co.uk for more details). But their own vehicle for promoting it probably cost the tax payer unnecessarily. As DWMC says “First up, we had the much-slated Graduate Talent Pool (“Wow, a load of unpaid internships – that’ll help pay off my £15k of debt…”). This is the very vehicle that could simply have combined private sector initiatives and reduced graduate unemployment with the investment allocated to incentivising companies to open their doors and remunerate them.


Robin Kennedy

There’s been a bit of debate recently on BBC etc on ‘Intern Abuse’. The discussion seems to focus on a) Job-hunting university leavers being warned against paying for services to help get them internships and b) Companies not paying their interns.

The BBC didn’t get round to publishing our feedback so here it is:

We operate on the basis of a ‘Freemium’ model where users can create profiles and search for opportunities for FREE but pay a one-off £10 membership fee which gives them a number of membership benefits (discounts, access to events etc) as well as the ability to identify the names of companies and make applications. In our view this does not constitute anything more than a very reasonable admin fee. Without some form of hurdle like this, companies would be inundated with speculative applications – one of the issues we seek to address. As it is, we find that there is a correlation between the quality (or relevance) of profiles/applications and those that are prepared to pay to join the network.

With advertising rates low, we have had to find ways to make our business model work – we are not yet profitable! To increase supply, companies can post opportunities for free on WEXO but pay us to help them find the right people.

With regard to unpaid internships, we encourage our companies to pay their graduate interns at least the national minimum wage (as legally required and as we have done ourselves) but we do not enforce it. This is a grey area though. I understand that a lot of the internships available on the Graduate Talent Pool are unpaid and that there are unpaid interns at both the BBC and in parliament! Exploitation is wrong but ultimately I would argue that market economics should dictate and if someone wants to work for free to gain valuable experience then they should be allowed to. We are however lobbying the government to subsidise paid internships to encourage companies to offer them.

Robin Kennedy

After graduating from university in August 2008 with a research masters in archaeology, I was fairly confident – despite the recession – that I would be able to find some kind of work, even if it wasn’t my dream job. Sixth months down the line, after numerous failed job applications, unreturned email enquiries, and useless job agencies, a friend suggested that I join WEXO.


After joining and applying for a few jobs, I quickly obtained some work experience working for WEXO itself, and out of this I obtained the internship I am currently doing: working for Intelligence Squared (IQ2), London’s premier debating forum. I am currently working in a small team, helping to build their new website. Not only do I have the chance to put to use the skills I gained at university, but I am also constantly adding new skills to my CV. In addition to helping source content for the website, I carry out research for the background information on the written articles and videos that will appear on the site, and provide input about its layout and style. But the main new skill I have learnt is how to use the software that allows us to add content to the site, and the associated testing and editing. This job was not something I had ever thought of doing when I graduated, but this internship has opened up a whole new career path for me.


What I would recommend about WEO is that it is more personalised than other websites that offer jobs or internships. When I first joined WEXO I was already tired of other websites emailing me details of jobs that were entirely unsuited to me and which seemed to have been chosen at random. Within weeks of joining WEXO I had gained a few days’ work experience there. Shortly after that they arranged for me to have an informal interview (a drink in a pub!) with someone from IQ2, and the next week I started working there. I am hugely grateful to WEXO for this. Although I have only been at IQ2 for two months, I already feel that I have greatly increased my chances for obtaining future employment in a range of roles.


Mark Roberts

The three-weeks of work experience I did with Quintessentially Escape this September (through WEXO) were just brilliant!

Having done a couple of internships before, I’d prepared myself for a bit of slave-labour, some coffee-tray-carrying and manic filing of dusty old documents, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. The application process was incredibly simple, just a click and an optional cover letter, and then, after a casual interview, I was away… Subsequent emails from the guys at Quintessentially showed me that they actually wanted me to come, and that I would in fact be useful to them (which is what any intern hopes for!) and on my arrival, having been greeted by an office filled with friendly faces, I was told to pull up a chair at my own desk, and presented with a list of interesting tasks to perform; letters, research, phone calls, website work….everything! Therefore, by the end of the work experience I’d been given a real insight into most aspects of the company.

The problem with work experience is that you usually feel like a bit of a waste of space; you’ve written to a company in the hope of an internship, they’ve begrudgingly agreed, and they make it pretty clear throughout that you’re a hindrance rather than a help. But Quintessentially, like any company advertising for interns on WEXO, really wanted help, so I was constantly busy and felt useful throughout. Moreover, they talked me through anything I didn’t understand, and by the end of the three weeks I really felt I’d had a proper taste of company-life.

Some people view unpaid work experiences as a bit of a chore that you have to struggle through in order to decorate your CV, but this certainly wasn’t; though it involved a lot of work, it was fun and has definitely helped me to work out which career-path I’d like to head down in the future… Thank you WEXO!

Nell Fane

I came out of university in the summer of 2008 thinking that I would walk into a job. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I had a nightmare for the next 6 months trying to find one. Interview after interview and reaching the final stages I was unable to stand out.


What WEXO has given me is a fighting chance to get one. It has allowed me the opportunity to show what I have got. I now am now in my seventh month and I have some crucial experience behind me. I am working in a small commercial team helping to sell video content to entertainment sites. I have already had small success directly bringing two large online retailers to trial which will hopefully go into contract.


Hopefully my Christmas present will be a job at this company. If not I will be in a much stronger situation to gain employment.


Greg Bailey

I’m looking for a job in fashion editorial, it can hardly be said I’ve taken the easy route. What girl doesn’t want to work for Vogue. But since I’m far from well connected, and during a recession? I have to be mental. After graduating this June from Sussex with a 2:1 in Philosophy and English, I have nevertheless been trying to carve out the beginnings of my longed-for career in fashion.

I find it hard to believe the help and lucky breaks I’ve had through WEXO; at times I’ve had to pinch myself. I first spotted them on a Google ad and followed the link, but when I realised it was £10 to apply, I have to admit I was put off. I talked about all the amazing opportunities on there with my boyfriend and he said it was definitely worth it. I knew there’s no way I could get to those high profile companies otherwise – they must get hundreds of phone calls. This would be a great way of getting noticed.

So I did, and it’s like having a well connected uncle in just about every industry. I even met the boys working at WEXO (nice guys) and they pointed out to me a placement with women’s lifestyle website, Toptips.com. Although it wasn’t directly fashion related, it was Editorial experience and would look great on my CV. Plus, I just hate being out of work – I would much rather be out there learning new things and making connections than waiting for replies to applications that never come.

I was working under the Founding Editor of the website, Kate Reardon, who also, just so happens to be the Contributing Editor of Vanity Fair. On my first day I was obviously nervous, but she was lovely, even taking me out for lunch. I went on to realise that the ‘Christa’ who shared the office with us was none other than Christa D’Souza, one of my personal heroes and Contributing Editor of Vogue! Only a few months ago I actually cried when my boyfriend’s mum recycled the Vogue ‘Body Special’ with a fantastic article by Christa as the centre piece. It was such a help to talk to them both about my career and learn a million exciting things about theirs.

But my best work experience experience so far has to be one morning when Christa had popped out and I was editing the site for Kate. Christa called to say she’d forgotten her notes for a speech she was giving and asked if I would mind jumping in a cab and bringing them to her at Louis Vuitton. I didn’t need to think about it, I was out of my seat and in the cab before I hung up the phone. I ended up helping her work on the speech that afternoon with none other than Kim Hersov, Editor-at-Large of Harpers Bazaar! I was mixing with Louis Vuitton’s top buyers while Vuitton-clad models milled around – around me, a scruffy little intern (with a big grin). My worst work experience experience? Cleaning a dirty wall. The life of an intern is full of ups and downs!

Ruth Gibbs

When I first heard of WEXO in the winter of 2008 I was an unemployed ex-student whose decision to study Egyptian Archaeology at University had sorely damaged his hope of finding a job in a recession. It was not a happy time. This was a point when I had signed up to the huge array of job websites on the internet all promising the impossible and almost always resulting in jobs in sales and recruitment, not my idea of a future!

As I filled in my WEXO profile I was quietly pessimistic that it would be like all the others but how wrong I was to be…

Within a week I had three interviews for internships and three very different companies that all appealed to me. After being accepted by two I chose to work for SUPERchick, a women’s personal training and fitness company, which not only provided me with a great holistic approach to a start up company but also filled my CV with some great skills for future employers to mull over. I was once told by a highly influential CEO in London that unpaid work experience was one of the key qualities he looked for in candidates and so I valued it highly. SUPERchick is run by Sky Sports presenter Georgie Thompson and I met some very interesting people on the job. My time was largely spent helping out with day to day office duties.

After this very successful internship I actually went on to work for WEXO itself in Business Development. I spent 7 months involved in all aspects of the business which involved everything from developing a Client Relationship Management tool to helping market WEXO at The Guardian Graduate Career Fair. My time at WEXO has now inspired me to go it alone and build my own start-up. My company, Alexandria Bespoke Libraries (www.alexandria-bespoke.com), builds collections of literature as well as dealing in rare and antiquarian books. This is something I had always wanted to do and working with and through WEXO I not only gained some indispensible skills and contacts but also the inspiration to go it alone!

I am truly grateful to WEXO for everything they have done for me and would recommend them to anyone that was in a similar position to me after university!


Elliott Rampley
thelibrary@alexandria-bespoke.com
www.alexandria-bespoke.com

Thinking about the future can be daunting, especially if you are undecided about which path to follow. When I graduated from Edinburgh University early this year, reality kicked in that I needed to immerse myself in the job market. Constant reminders of bleak employment statistics proved discouraging for my future.

Although I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in the media and entertainment sector, there are very few recruitment agencies that specialize in this field. A friend mentioned she had signed up to WEXO and managed to secure interviews at a number of great places.

As soon as I searched in the media column, a range of work experience, internships and jobs came up for the most fantastic companies. I applied straight away to a portfolio of companies to broaden my chances but my heart was really set on one company in particular – Platinum Rye Entertainment – to work as a celebrity and music intern!

It seemed luck was on my side, and after an interview with the MD of the company I was given the opportunity to work with Platinum Rye. I was made to feel one of the team straight away and was given the responsibility to focus on research for commercial deals between brands and celebrities. Platinum Rye source the best celebrity for an advertising or PR campaign, as well as securing the rights to hit songs for a commercials – we have worked with a number of high-profile celebrities, including Sienna Miller for the Hugo Boss advertising and Naomi Campbell, Eva Herzigova, and Claudia Schiffer for the Dolce and Gabbana campaign.

I have worked in a number of companies over the last 7 years and Platinum Rye has been by far the most exciting and enjoyable business I have been involved with. Without the help of WEXO I would have never been given this incredible opportunity……

Issy

Yesterday, the Sunday Times published a ‘Bridging the gap’ work experience supplement. With graduate unemployment at 12%, political debate typically adversarial as opposed to analytical, and half baked offerings in terms of solutions, I thought this got right to the very heart of the issue. It’s the companies, Stupid…

A plethora of companies that we work with at WEXO are committed to work experience and internships and various placements that we have organised have already become full time jobs. Having rejuvenated Marks and Spencer, Sir Stuart Rose is also Chairman of Business in the Community and on Tuesday is launching ‘The Big Conversation’ -  a call to action for employers to turn ‘work experience into work inspiration’. We will be there and back these calls whilst encouraging companies to sign up to WEXO for free and open up more opportunities to register their commitment to our executives of tomorrow.

We didn’t get an invite to the ‘youth summit’ in Birmingham the other day but our Lead Developer, Ben Drew was in the vicinity and informs me that Gordon didn’t get a very warm reception. Dull, grey and occasionally a little sweaty was the feedback I got – and that was just the weather. Gordon talked again of creating more jobs (Microsoft, Bovis Lend Lease, Pfizer, Phones4U, Centrica, Carillion, Wm Morrison and Royal Mail were all cited as having opened up various schemes) and training opportunities. But Sean Figg, of Youth Fight for Jobs, said the announcements were “full of attention-grabbing headlines…but devoid of any meaningful detail.” With more than 920,000 16 to 24-year-olds unemployed both the Liberals and Conservatives were keen to get the boot in too wanting to see more numbers and calling for more action but what can the Government really do? Sure, the Labour party got us into this mess but can they really get us out?

The problem is systemic and it started when Tony got up and said ‘Education, education, education’ and democratised University access with little regard to the fact that one day soon people would want the relevant ‘Employment, employment, employment’. So today, we have too many people looking for ‘graduate’ style jobs in the service sector and not enough companies taking heed of the Apprentice scheme etc. So everyone still needs a good plumber and builder (I highly recommend www.capstonelondon.com ). I am consistently approached by graduates looking for Engineering opportunities (see Spotlight for one) and even if this is not an area that it can compete internationally in, UK Plc should at least be developing relationships with the companies from other countries that can.

The problem is also financial and Labour’s classic Keynesian ‘spend, spend, spend’  solution to all of our problems and the associated borrowing has to stop somewhere – this was the exact cause of the credit crisis and Keynes himself said ‘the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent’. If there’s money in pots to be allocated to unemployment, we’ll happily have some of it and believe companies need to be incentivised to take graduates (in whatever way they can). If the money’s run out then I do see some rationale in Nick Clegg’s calls to scrap the VAT cut and use the proceeds to pay for up to 800,000 young people to do work internships. The government has attempted to produce its own solutions through the Graduate Talent Pool etc (see our review here) but we believe it should be supporting the private sector through initiatives like our own and helping the companies themselves who hold the keys to tomorrow’s prosperity.

P.S. So as not to leave the Conservatives out of the line of fire, in response to David Willetts (shadow secretary of state for universities and skills) claims in the weekend press that students are being kept in the dark over career prospects, there are already a plethora of websites offering information to students. We particularly like the www.thestudentroom.co.uk and it took us under 2 minutes to find the following table which reveals what careers pay what to graduates: http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/single.htm?ipg=6371 (if that’s what matters!)

Adam having a ball at the WEXO fete

Let me start off by introducing myself. I’m Adam Khadra, an undergrad at Imperial College London studying Bioengineering. After applying to WEXO and applying to a few work experience positions online I was lucky enough to get an offer from WEXO themselves. This has given me a really good insight into how WEXO actually works and the best way of finding a job through the site.

My day to day duties included IT support, helping to keep the system database up to date, learning their marketing techniques and communication between you, the user, and the company in which you want to work. A lot of work goes into running the system and ensuring the best candidates are selected as well as getting employers to offer new opportunities.

Here are some tips I’d recommend all of you follow when using WEXO:

• Complete your profile! This is what you’re being judged on; make sure you add all your interests, achievements and anything that really shows off your personality or uniqueness. Another reason is the software that WEXO has built – it’s an algorithm which picks out key words from your profile e.g. if you mention you’re an arts enthusiast, when you apply to an arts based work experience you’re ranked higher than those with no interest at all.
• Try applying to smaller or lesser known firms. Larger companies usually have a high number of applicants on WEXO whereas smaller firms may have just 3 or 4 applicants which means you are in a better position to get that placement. And the experience you pick up is likely to be the same or perhaps even more engaging.
• Be patient! Some companies take a while to reply but don’t think you’ve been forgotten. WEXO are always corresponding with the companies concerned  and have systems in place to coordinate this.
• Regularly check the site. New opportunities are coming in nearly every day so make sure you don’t miss out on any of them.

I hope I’ve given you all an idea of how to increase your chances of getting that work experience and best of luck.

Adam Khadra