In this edition of the Summer 2010 Internships series of articles, we will be looking at what UK employers think about Australian work experience on your CV.

We have had quite a few questions on this lately from students and graduates. So, we thought we would get out and ask some employers how they viewed international work experience.

We asked a range of UK companies, small and large how they viewed work experience from Australia. The response was very positive in favour of Australian work experience, and the life experience to be gained from travelling and working overseas.

So What did the companies have to say?

When we talked to a range of employers we showed them two company and position descriptions each from the Intern Options website, explained they were in Australia and that they were unpaid.

Stephen Handisides, Director and founder of the UK’s largest beauty and aesthetic website www.MyFaceMyBody.com commented:

“Any potential new employee we are evaluating needs to stand out from the crowd. If I saw a student’s CV that had international work experience like this on it, they would be short listed immediately.

We are a marketing, PR, filming and advertising company and we are international, we are looking for candidates that have relevant work experience, not just a qualification.”

We talked with Mark West, founder of People, Process and Solutions. They are a management consultancy company working with some of the UK’s largest Retail brands online and on the high street. This is what they had to say about international work experience on a candidates CV:

“We would look very favourably on a candidate who has not just international experience, but life experience gained by travelling and working in a foreign country like Australia. Our consultants are required to enter business situations with a broad range of skills, most of these are not taught in a class room, they are learnt through working in companies in a range of situations”.

How is this relevant to you as a student or graduate?

A couple of things shone through about what companies are looking for these days. It is no secret that companies have a lot of potential candidates to look at with graduate vacancies in 2010 dropping around 25% from 2009. These were:

• Experience on your CV is crucial, a degree or diploma won’t do by itself
• Life experience through travel is highly regarded
• One employer even said she would love to hear about a candidates travel if nothing else!

So to make yourself stand out to employers, it all comes down to work experience and differentiating yourself and your CV. What are you planning for summer 2011 to get this experience on your CV?

To talk through the kind of internship we can look at for you in 2011, or if you have any questions on Australia or New Zealand, pick up the phone and call the experts on 0207 353 7699.

To see example company and position descriptions in your subject area, click through to the Summer 2011 Internships page for full details.

Articles in the Summer 2011 Internships series

This is the fourth article in the Summer 2011 Internship series, if you missed the first three articles, don’t fear you can check them out here:

Article One – Summer 2011 Internships – Where to Start

Article Two – Summer 2011 Internships – How to Budget

Article Three – Summer 2011 Internships – What’s the Big Deal

Article Four – Summer 2011 Internships – What do Employers Think

Article Five – Summer 2011 Internships – Get Work Experience Early

1. You get some fantastic work experience on your CV that makes you stand out from your peers
2. You don’t have to work for very long to get this quality international work experience

Actually I thought of a third

3. IT’s SYDNEY, living in Sydney myself for six months was some of the best times I have had, Sydney is not a place that will disappoint!

So What are the Benefits?

On top of the three main reasons above, there are also a number of other beneficial outcomes that our students tell us about. Like testing if PR or advertising is the industry for you. One of our students (Simone) commented that if she hadn’t spent 12 weeks in Sydney working in an advertising agency, she probably would have wasted a graduate job pursuing a career in advertising. Simone is now in a PR position working in internal communications and loving it! Luckily her employer in Sydney was able to give Simone some experience on internal comms and this is what she preferred rather than advertising work.

There must be Some Negatives

The obvious negative is that the internships are unpaid. You will need to take enough money to pay for your living costs for the whole time you are in Sydney or Melbourne. If you would like help with creating a budget see the second article in this series on How to Budget for your Summer 2011 Internship

So What is the Big Deal with a Summer Internship in 2011?

41% of students surveyed think their CV is not good enough to get a job in the UK and 31% don’t know where to start looking.

This result from a survey Intern Options conducted over the last six months didn’t surprise us, but it did reinforce how bad things are for recent graduates in the UK. This is why Intern Options saw a 75% increase in summer 2010 internship applications.

Students graduating are very aware they need quality work experience on their CV before they graduate. At the end of the day it all comes down to who has experience on your CV. It is getting harder and harder for employers to distinguish between graduates just by your degree, something else is needed… Work Experience.

The Sydney and Melbourne summer internships are designed to give you intense work experience over a short period of time. This is why the internships are unpaid, because that way we can dictate to employers that the internship purpose is for your learning, and nothing else.

So if you were wondering what kind of internship you could do next June to September, check out the Summer 2011 Internships page to flick through company and position descriptions for fashion internships, film internships, marketing internships, journalism internships, business internships, accounting internships, design internships, finance internships, PR or media internship, advertising internships or just about any other kind of summer internship you can think of.

To see example company and position descriptions in your subject area, click through to the Summer 2011 Internships page for full details.

To talk through the kind of internship we can look at for you in 2010, or if you have any questions on Australia or New Zealand, pick up the phone and call the experts on 0207 353 7699.

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Articles in the Summer 2011 Internships series

This is the fourth article in the Summer 2011 Internship series, if you missed the first three articles, don’t fear you can check them out here:

Article One – Summer 2011 Internships – Where to Start

Article Two – Summer 2011 Internships – How to Budget

Article Three – Summer 2011 Internships – What’s the Big Deal

Article Four – Summer 2011 Internships – What do Employers Think

Article Five – Summer 2011 Internships – Get Work Experience Early