It’s hard enough leaving university and finding a job, let alone not having a clue what you want to do in life. At least I’ve got a year to decide but with a long 3 month summer ahead of me I was beginning to panic about what I was going to do to fill my time. Having done various money earning jobs in the past I wanted to invest a little time into my future and do some work experience. Having exhausted my own contacts, I discovered WEXO thanks to my sister and it opened up a whole host of options, not to mention the time it saved trawling through the internet sending hundreds of applications to millions of companies. I can honestly say WEXO bent over backwards to help me – after a couple things fell through, WEXO made sure they were on the case and looking for other alternatives. Through one of their targeted alerts, WEXO informed me of a placement for work experience available in a small bespoke travel company run by Laura Jeffrey and I was put me in touch with her.

I have now done 2 weeks work experience at Passepartout Travel and have thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. It was exactly what I was looking for, a small company where I could be really involved with the day to day running of the business, and involved in decision making. I knew from the beginning I didn’t want to be one of a million in a huge company and this experience has suited me perfectly. I have taken on real responsibility in the form of creating Passepartout’s monthly newsletter, working alongside Laura and learning how to create the right ‘look and feel’, be concise and help set apart Passepartout from other companies. It has been a fascinating experience and made me realise how much hard work goes into some of the smallest tasks. Another benefit of working for a small company was the opportunity to get out and about, going to meetings with contacts in other industries and not necessarily working 9 to 5; I worked until what I was doing was done. But probably the most valuable thing I have learnt has been how much hard work it takes setting up your own company and but how great the rewards can be, and I can safely say this would not have been possible without the brilliant help of WEXO who made it all possible.

Huge thanks WEXO!

Tessa Robinson

It’s not easy graduating and not knowing what you want to do, particularly when you don’t really know what most jobs actually involve. I have found internships invaluable in helping me adjust to and explore the world of work and gain a variety of new skills.

WEXO helped me get a paid internship at Guinness Asset Management and I have now spent nearly 2 months there helping with the launch of a new renewable energy fund. I knew little (/nothing) about the world of asset management before Guinness and I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to work so closely with very experienced fund managers and to see a fund at such an early stage. It has been a brilliant insight into the sector but also much more than that.

In the start-up stage of a fund the focus is on marketing; on reaching as many potential investors as possible and explaining the investment opportunity. I have had an important part to play in this from the start (and have consequently never felt that my work is peripheral – too often the case with intern work) and have enjoyed being part of a small team. On the marketing side my work has involved keeping track of contacts, organizing presentations, calling up Independent Financial Adviser (IFAs) and collecting news stories that might impact upon investor confidence. I have also attended meetings with solar developers and seen the work involved in building up a strong pipeline of projects so the fund is ready to be invested as soon as it is raised.

Through this experience I have learnt about the investment process and the key elements of a fund (its investment strategy, the risks, measures to mitigate risk, and the exit strategy) as well as marketing in the financial sector (the value of as personal and tailored approach as possible) and the renewable energy sector (particularly the threats and opportunities). In fact the list goes on as I have also developed a number of general office skills such as mail merge which will always be useful to know.

It has thus been an incredibly worthwhile experience that will stay with me forever, as well as a really enjoyable one.

Lucinda Robinson

On Tuesday 8th February we’ll be holding the first of our ‘How I Made It’ official Q&A careers events intended to introduce students, graduates and young professionals to different opportunities and industries in the working world.

We’ll be kicking off with “How I Made It In Advertising: Brands, the Big 4 and beyond…” at 6.30pm on Tuesday 8th February at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill, London – where Jimi Hendrix played his last gig.

WEXO is all about privileged access and we will be featuring a panel of advertising executives who have spent time at the world’s four biggest advertising groups: WPP, Omnicom, Publicis and Interpublic as well as ITV, Orange and Dunhill.

It will follow a BBC Question Time format focusing on pre-polled questions including: “What impact is social media having on the advertising industry?”,“What opportunities are available?” and “Why have some campaigns been so successful?”. There will be a ‘money can’t buy’ prize for the best question which you can submit when you register…

We’re continually hearing that you don’t know enough about the working world to make informed decisions so we’re trying to give you the inside story direct from the people that hold the roles you might be best suited to. Watch this space for the next events, let us know what industries you’d like to hear about below or sign up for the event now.

The idea sprang from the “How I Made it in Fashion” event that WEXO co-hosted with the LSE Fashion Society in November 2010. It featured a panel including the Retail Editor of Vogue, Emily Zak, Chloe Lonsdale, Founder of MiH Jeans and the fashion journalist, Kinvara Balfour. The event was oversubscribed and substantiated the view that young people are seeking more pertinent careers advice. A recent Ofsted survey suggested that one in three schools are failing to give good advice to students about future career prospects. A report by Deloitte said that 95% of young people want employers to be more involved in providing guidance about careers citing that they feel ‘bewildered’ and ‘uninformed’ by the career choices on offer.

The problem we’re seeing daily is that students and graduates don’t always understand the roles on offer and so aren’t necessarily focusing on the ones that they’re best cut out for. This is only exaggerated by a difficult job market. For every 2 people we place there are 8 that we don’t. We’re trying to give all 10 of you the inside story direct from the people that hold the roles you might be best suited to.

There’s always been material available from careers advisers and universities but by filming these events we’re hoping to build up an interesting online archive of enlightening content that will help you understand the career you deserve.

Robin Kennedy

Photos courtesy of Chu Ting Ng at The Qualifiedblog.

Often the majority of graduates struggle to find suitable internships or work experience placements straight out of university: this was my task. Luckily my career path was pretty clear to me, since I was keen to pursue a career in marketing.

After graduating from University in 2008 with a psychology degree and a Masters in marketing, I started searching for marketing internship roles which would help me to develop new skills. I spent hours calling companies, sending CVs, searching on Google and joining job agencies, which became both exhausting and frustrating. After numerous attempts and disappointing results, I started to worry about my future. My dedication and desire to find an internship was starting to wear off. I later spoke to a friend who introduced me to WEXO.

He revealed that his girlfriend had used it to find work and I thought to myself “why not?”. So I paid the £10 fee and applied for several companies. Within less than a week I’d received an email from a fashion company called Chris & Tibor.

Finally I was getting somewhere! I went for an interview and was offered the job. Working for Chris & Tibor was incredible. I felt right at home with people who were genuinely nice and allowed me to express myself. Plus, the internship was a hands-on experience: I was often given different responsibilities and the chance to do diverse roles, from online marketing research to collecting relevant data for office use. Everything about the internship was marketing-related, and gave me a realistic preview of my field of interest.

Working for Chris & Tibor helped me to acquire the skills and knowledge which are important for everyday work. I got the chance to experience the different roles that are involved in marketing and feel that I am better prepared to enter the world of work after this experience. This internship is one element of my overall success and I would describe it to other students as rewarding.

Thanks to WEXO I was able to find the role: without them I would most likely still be phoning companies, sending CVs and joining job agencies with zero results. I would highly recommended WEXO because you can get firsthand experience within companies, complete with rewarding responsibilities and challenges. The experience was a thrill and also satisfying.

Jadeed Boyi

Internships, internships, internships: At my university that’s all anyone seems to talk about, and this time last year it was starting to freak me out!

You see, at the London School of Economics I am surrounded by lots of really clever economists and finance geniuses, not to mention those who study law or management. These are the lucky few who have their career paths laid out in front of them; the ones we give evils to across the library floor, the ones who have it all too easy!

‘But what about the rest of us’, we chant in chorus, ‘what hope is there for us?’

Well today I am here to tell you not to panic. There are in fact a huge number of internship opportunities out there for people just like you and I in a wide variety of industries and roles, two of which I would like to share my experience of.

During the past year I have been working as an intern one day a week at the one and only WEXO, looking at ways to develop their student marketing campaigns. This has given me a great insight into what it’s like to work for a growing start-up and the sort of responsibility this entails.

There are loads of advantages to working for a small firm, particularly as an intern. Because there are fewer employees than in a big corporation you get much more of an overview of how the whole company runs, and hopefully get to help out with lots of different aspects of the firm. This is a fantastic opportunity if you are not sure what role you see yourself doing in future (which let’s face it, most of us don’t). The breadth of experience available at small firms is invaluable and I believe there is a huge amount of satisfaction in seeing your ideas come to life.

It’s a steep learning curve and you may feel like you’re being thrown in at the deep end at first, but I believe it is definitely the best way to learn. From a social perspective, working at a small start-up is usually a lot of fun and more laid-back than may be the case at some of the bigger firms. Moreover the people you work with are the sort of people who are really entrepreneurial and full of great ideas. This is what I really love about being part of the super cool WEXO family.

On the other side of the coin, you have the ‘Big Guys’. These are the firms with thousands of employees, those annoyingly long application forms and really structured internship schemes. I have to be honest the combination of these factors was rather off-putting for me; I was intimidated to approach any of the big firms like L’Oreal and Procter and Gamble because I felt like a very small fish in a very big pond!

I finally plucked up the courage to send my application off to P&G on the day of the deadline and if I’m honest I didn’t expect a response. However, it turns out the work I had been doing at WEXO was pretty interesting to the ‘Big Guys’ and I was fortunate to be offered a summer internship working in Sales at P&G.

This was a fantastic experience and I was able to learn a huge amount about the world of business, how to persuasively present my ideas and how to effectively manage a group of people as well as sales skills relevant to my role. I met some great people at P&G and made some excellent contacts. I’m not going pull the wool over your eyes however: there were some really long days, and the work was challenging but fortunately there were lots of people to help me through and teach me the ropes. It was great to be able to work so closely with some really knowledgeable people.

I truly believe that getting yourself an internship is an invaluable career opportunity. For me personally, it is really a case of: ‘You don’t realise just how much you don’t know until you’ve done one!’ I truly feel in a much stronger position applying to jobs now than I would have been without these experiences on my CV. Of course for employers, the fact that you have gone out there and used your free time to learn new skills and take an interest in the world of work is a big tick in their box!

Whether you chose to intern at a small start-up or a big corporation is a personal preference. Both offer fantastic opportunities to learn and personally develop your own skills and confidence. If you can, try both. You can never have too much experience! WEXO have some amazing opportunities on their site that I would definitely advise applying for. Equally you should have a look at some corporate schemes and really work out what you feel suits you best.

There really are so many opportunities out there for people just like you and me.
Now it’s up to you to make them your own!

Emma Roberts

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.

To be quite frank, working for the government would certainly not have appeared in my Top Ten ‘dream jobs’ – if ever a thing exists. However pessimistic this short story may sound, be reassured that it does in fact have a happy ending.

The summer began with the constant nagging to get off the sofa, stop eating enough food to feed a family of four and lay off repeat episodes of Murder She Wrote. I had just finished my second year at University and it was about time I began to think about the future; probably the most daunting thought for any undergraduate/graduate, especially with the current economic climate, a point that has been drilled into my head every evening at dinner by my ever-wise father. Having said this, it was he who suggested that I should apply for work experience with my local MP, Grant Shapps; to sort out this ‘damned mess’.

Reluctantly, I mulled over this idea. I had been put off politics by the complex structure of it all, over exposure to middle-aged, jowly men and my grandmother’s strong, bordering on extreme, political views which penetrated my mind at an early age. I have always possessed a vague interest in local and global politics but not to the point where I thought I would actually get involved. Eventually I emailed my local MP, expressing my enthusiasm for politics, albeit slightly exaggerated. It was only a few days later that I received a reply asking me to join his team in Westminster, which would enable me to explore the world of politics.

So my week arrived, and dressed in what I could only assume a young, up and coming politician might wear, I arrived in Westminster with a more positive attitude. I was greeted warmly by my supervisor and before I knew it was thrown in at the deep end. It was such an exciting experience. I was briefed on what went on in the Office of Grant Shapps and immediately given the go ahead to respond to as much of Grant’s mail as I could get my hands on. This may not sound that interesting to most, but it did cover a whole spectrum of issues which I believe are very important, for example, research for new cancer drugs, the war in Afghanistan and International development. I was then also expected to write to the respective MP’s with the constituents’ concerns, which I thoroughly enjoyed the responsibility of. I didn’t always necessarily agree with some of the new Government’s standard lines for certain issues, but it did educate me on their policies, expanding my political knowledge and helping to consolidate my own beliefs. My week ended with the opportunity to go on a tour of the Houses of Parliament which I thought was a lovely way to cap off my time at Westminster. Being a history student, I very much appreciated the tour and it was another feature of my work experience that helped to deepen my understanding of politics and its history.

Taking on work experience in an area that hadn’t even really crossed my mind, definitely opened my eyes to the prospect of broadening my career options. Risk taking with internships and work experience, I believe, could be the key to creating a ‘one of a kind’ CV.

Ramani Shehara Rajaratnam