If I can offer you one piece of advice it is this: Don’t settle for something that doesn’t make you happy.

A career is a lifetime investment. You wouldn’t go into a car dealership and buy the first car you were offered, nor would you accept a marriage proposal from a mediocre stranger, just because they’ve asked you. Choosing a career is no different – it’s a decision that’ll be with you for years to come, so take your time and choose carefully.

When I graduated with an MA from Edinburgh during the depths of the global recession, I had to forgo dreams of landing a grad-scheme job in a multinational corporation with years of stability ahead of me. At the same time, I couldn’t bear the thought of being a dogsbody in a dead-end job, working just to make ends meet. Instead I decided to ride out the recession, committing myself to a year of gaining experience and invariably working for free. I moved in with Grannie, ditched the gym membership, and signed up for jobseekers allowance knowing (hoping, praying) that in a years time I would have found the job of my dreams and it would all be worth it.

3 months into my graduate year, and one internship down, I came across the WEXO site, and more importantly came across an internship posting at LeapAnywhere.com. It was one of the only sites that listed jobs for skilled, savvy and interesting grads, with not a ‘sales clerk’ or ‘admin assistant’ role in site. Phew!

(This is now the section where i have to sum up my job and company; an incredibly hard task at the best of times, not least when I’m sitting at my desk, smiling at my boss, and already 100 words over the word limit.)

I rocked up to interview for the role of Charities Associate and felt immediately at home in an office-come-playroom, scattered with Macs, beanbags, park benches and laughter. In a somewhat overly friendly mood, I sat discussing philanthropy, politics and above all giggling with my interviewer for well over 2 hours. When asked if I had any questions I responded with “Do you like marmite?’ “Can you juggle” and “Would you rather have 6ft long arms or knees the size of footballs?”. I had a call the next morning offering me an intern role to start ASAP.

9 months later, I am the full time Head of Charities and Partnerships in an exciting, dynamic and familial internet start-up. I’m the happiest I could imagine, working in a company that begins the week with an ‘Inspiration Session’ and ends with week with ‘Beer-o-Clock’; combines my passions of charitable engagement with creative technological innovation, and offers me responsibilities well beyond my experience (but not beyond my aptitude). I have 400+ Charity partners on my books, and already feel like I’m making waves in an industry I’m professionally and emotionally committed to.

The moral of the story is this:

1. Be honest with yourself and your employer. (Offering my personality in interview paid dividends and meant that I was employed as a person not just a skill set).
2. Find something that makes you happy – don’t ‘settle’ for the first job you come across because you feel you have to.
3. Instead, get the experience you need.
4. Don’t rush your decision, you will find something that ticks all the boxes!

Click here for our YOUTUBE channel, and you can check out our WEXO Profile to view any current opportunities at LEAP ANYWHERE.

Felicity McLean

Everyone’s telling you what a fantastic idea internships are – how you learn so much, build your CV and get your foot in the doors. All true, but once you’re sold on the idea, having cultivated that ‘can do’ attitude and bagged the internship(s), then making the leap from hungry intern to fully fledged employee can be troubling.

It strikes me the problem is it’s easy to be good value for money to a company when only being paid expenses – almost whatever positive contribution you make will be a help. But to become essential to everyday working life and worth good money, not to lose takes a different skill set than just being a good intern. I’ve done numerous internships whilst attempting to find a way into fashion journalism, and at times I’ve wondered whether I haven’t fallen into an ‘intern trap’ – forever a great intern, without ever being employed.

Sure I’d had great feedback, people were always sorry to see me go – but with the lack of budget allocated to editorial staff, no one was putting their money where their mouth was. Editorial positions are not advertised with ‘competitive salary’… just ‘salary’.

BUT, finally, I was offered my first paid editorial job – editorial assistant and fashion news writer for a well known website. It was temporary, but a huge validation, confirming months of hard work hadn’t been in vain. In taking my first step (which I was convinced I was overly ready for), despite all my work experience, I realised what a big one it actually was. With jobs so difficult to come by, everyone on the payroll has to pull more than their weight – especially newbies. Value for money will now mean more than an inquisitive nature and an exceptional cuppa. All the great ideas you had as an intern will now have to come more frequently, on demand and into fruition if you’re to meet steep expectations.

I say this not just to prepare you for the fact that dream jobs will be hard work even after you get them – I’m sure by the time you get there you’ll be willing to work hard enough to face those challenges. The experience has shone a bit of light for me on how I could have come across a more employable intern because as I now see it, giving an employer what they may want from an intern and what they need in an employee is often very different. Here are my tips on convincing employers you’re up to the job, not just the internship:

1. Take on responsibility wherever you can – think long term projects, e.g. redesigning any inefficient systems they use. Make their lives easier, but do it all yourself – don’t just have the idea, be prepared to see it through and manage the project from start to finish. Let them know when it’s done and how it makes life easier. If possible be the only one to know how the new system works!
2. When work loads are heavy, ask to do the low priority work of the paid staff – depending on your placement you might be doing this already, but use their state of panic as the opportunity to take on new tasks you haven’t yet been asked to do. This will have the effect of narrowing the psychological gap between them and you.
3. Write a list of everything great you’ve done since being in the placement (if you can, include one unfinished project) and have a list of ideas for the future. Request a meeting with whoever is responsible for your placement, present them with the list, your ideas for the future and say you would like to stay with the company and why. Explain why this would be cost effective for them (all the time you would save them, how much more work could be done overall, what impact this would have on the company etc). Most company budgets are strained at the moment – could they afford to take you on part time?

There are so many more ideas that could help with making the jump. If you think of one, post them below and help fellow impoverished graduates get employed. Or just tell other people your experiences – they really do help.

Ruth Gibbs

I think I originally thought it would all be very clear-cut. Finish university, have the summer off and then ‘Bang!’ – straight into the dream job I always wanted… Well it’s a year down the line and I’m afraid to say I’m still looking for it BUT I have spent the last 4 months doing something. Actually doing something every day, having something to get out of bed for and to make weekends feel like they are well-deserved! A friend of mine introduced me to WEXO and after a couple of interviews, I accepted a paid internship.

For the past 4 months, I have been working for new start-up, made.com, an online furniture company, backed by Brent Hoberman, that cuts out the middleman by ordering in bulk and thus delivers at affordable prices. Design or furniture was never something I thought I’d start having an interest in at all so it took a while for me to come round to the idea. My responsibilities here have been varied; I am first port of call for all customer and press enquiries (which can get pretty busy), I also write the design blog on our site and have started doing the copy for product pages. It is a varied role and although I am still trying to explore and pinpoint what I would ideally like to do as a career, it has been an enlightening experience. Working in a small start-up company is educational as you are exposed to all sorts of vocations and involved in many different decisions. Opinions count and working in a small team makes you feel like you’re really part of it.

Since starting here in April, our collection has tripled and we launch a new product every week. This means there is always something to do and with our first deliveries, lots of customers to deal with. This can be quite testing but it does teach you to be patient and deal with all sorts of angry, frustrated or sometimes even happy people!

Looking back over the past few months, this has been time well spent, as I had come to the end of my tether with temping agencies and tedious, unrewarding roles. I have now gained more hands-on experience, feel like a part of something and I’m still not entirely sure what I want to do but I’ve learnt a lot and it has undoubtedly been a good starting point.

Nicola Seagroatt

It’s been a while since I stuck my oar in on the blogging front but I wanted to share with you my comings and goings with WEXO over the last week or so.

Last Saturday, WEXO were one of the Exhibitors at The Sunday Times Festival of Education at my old school, Wellington College. This was a unique event with presenters ranging from OW Rory Bremner to Michael Gove MP, Lord Baker to Germaine Greer and the Duchess of Kent to my old economics teacher John McArthur (now at ISCO). I counted 84 speakers in total who waxed lyrical on everything from dyslexia to addiction, the disadvantages of exams (too late) and British schools preparing a world class workforce. I was busy preaching the WEXO word and getting people to guess how many sweets were in the jar (217 – well done Mark Little on 210 – your £50 M&S voucher is on its way) but I did make it to the last of these talks. John Morewood, Graduate Recruitment Manager of HSBC (my old shop), Hugh Husband (McKinseys), Sir Anthony Cleaver (nice red socks) et al discussed how poor numeracy and literacy are from applicants (please at least use spell check for starters). The audience then quizzed the panel about children not knowing what to study for specific vocations (we have just started working with www.u-xplore.com to this very end). At the end, it was particularly interesting to hear the Secretary of State for Education talk about his new ambitions including a return to traditional A-levels with exams at the end of 2 years. Bizarrely, his patter sounded more socialist than capitalist and I was particularly impressed with his ability to take 6 questions in a row and then address each in turn with no more than a glass of water in his hands. There seems to be a common view (which I subscribe to) that teachers need to be better trained and supported; and that this country needs to focus more on Science, Engineering, Maths & Technology.

On Monday, WEXO were honoured to be invited to a Gala Dinner at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate The Prince of Wales’s 25th Year as President of Business in the Community (BITC). HRH, Sir Stuart Rose, Philip Green and Stephen Howard were there to present the prizes and Stephen Fry compèred. It was uplifting to hear such homage paid to HRH. It even made me wonder whether Price Charles was in fact a force for good?! It was a shame that Sir Stuart’s Work Inspiration initiative, which WEXO wholeheartedly supports, (and as a business you can too here) was not referenced; but it was encouraging to see SMEs recognised in The Small Company of the Year Award which went to the wool company Herdy. Was it their lamb that was so delectably rustled up with the buttered spring greens and warm rosemary vinaigrette (washed down with lashings of Rothschild Viognier Vin de Pays)?

After three days of hard labour, on Wednesday evening I was due a break and got invited to go and play tennis at Buckingham Palace (pathetically childish excitement ensued). A great friend works for the royal family (now there’s a WEXO blog we’d like to read) and had been asked if she’d like to use the tennis court. The gardens at ‘BP’ are lush and beautiful and HRH has one of the biggest flower pots known to man. Sadly the only Queen in residence was of the Apoidea variety.

Robin Kennedy
Co-Founder & CEO
WEXO

P.S. As per a recent Press Release, WEXO is campaigning to let SMEs recoup the costs of a 3 month paid internship from forthcoming VAT hike. To register your support, please comment below.

Last night saw the first ever British televised debate between the main party leaders vying to win the 2010 British election. While everyone who watched it will admit it didn’t have quite the pizzazz of the US clash between Obama, McCain, Biden and Palin it certainly has everyone talking a bit more about the election, which is no bad thing.

This week’s debate focused on domestic affairs with the debate on foreign affairs coming next to Sky News on the 22nd April and the final debate on the economy appearing on BBC 1 on April 29th.

But how does this affect you? Well last night’s debate isn’t one that particularly concerns graduates or internships; the one that we will all be paying close attention to is the debate on the 29th April when we will really see the issues of graduate rights and graduate unemployment addressed. So why are we blogging about the election debate then? Well, I think last night was a great example of the way in which the internet allows a global discussion to occur almost simultaneously to an event occurring.

If you were on the ITV site while you watched the debate you will have noticed the so called ‘worm’ that mapped everyone’s opinion of the leaders. As the debate continued red, yellow and blue ‘public perception’ curves fluctuated up and down every time Gordon Brown said “I agree with you Nick” and Cameron refused to clarify his stance on national insurance. This is a great example of how the internet and in particular social media applications, such as twitter and facebook, are changing the way we get and use information.

This, as our ambassadors will remember, is a point that was raised by Paul Harrison from Carve media group the other day and is a point that WEXO would like to share with all its members. It’s getting to a stage now where information is globally available in a matter of seconds. Why wait to read the news from the BBC or some other second or third hand source when you can go on twitter and read a tweet written by someone who is there? This has huge implications for business as well. If someone in Japan buys an mp3 player and is unhappy with it, in the time it takes to make a few key strokes someone in London can read this report and form an opinion of a product before it has even landed on these shores. There is no room for error now; business has to not only make sure it is constantly monitoring this information and adapting its product or service but it also needs to know how to utilise this great resource to its advantage. One example of this is someone tweeting that her phone is rubbish and Vodaphone tweeting back five minutes later with their latest phone contracts. Some may find this a little creepy, but is this future? I think it might just be…..

This is where you come in. To use the business term, you are a ‘digital native’. You have grown up using social media applications and this is something that can really be used to your advantage when you apply for roles. You know how to use this and more importantly how other people your age use it. This is a great bit of information to have and something a business will want.

My advice to you? Use it. Make sure you get this across in interviews or your CV and WEXO believe it could tip the balance in your favour when it comes to bagging that perfect work experience, internship or job. Please feel free to discuss underneath.

Are you not sure how you are going to vote? Give this site a try, votematch, and let us know what you think.

The last few weeks have seen a lot of news items talking about things
getting ‘lost’ especially the ‘lost generation’:

According to the Guardian:
1 in 3 university places could be lost

Then there was the Prince’s Trust report talking about Losttalent costing the state £3.5m
each day in Job Seekers Allowance