Your qualification alone is no longer enough to guarantee you a good job once you finish studying. Employers are looking for something extra such as relevant work experience and transferable skills. Summer work is a great way to earn some much needed cash, and to develop skills which will make you more employable when you graduate. If you're not sure what to do once you leave college, summer work experience will enable you to explore different career areas.
Ideally you might want to get a summer job related to the career area you plan to enter when you finish studying. This will give you an opportunity to find out what the work is really like and whether or not it's for you.
All work experience, even work which isn't directly related to your career plans will improve your employment prospects. Students with work experience are more attractive to employers because they have developed transferable skills such as communication, leadership, teamwork and initiative.
RESOURCES
Graduate and Internship Programmes
How to find a summer job - Sourcing advertised and unadvertised vacancies:
- Summer jobs notified to TU Dublin Career Development Centre are advertised in Careers Connect our job vacancy bulletin. Search under “Opportunity Type” for Summer Vacancies
- Look at the employment section of Gradireland, IAGORA for internships abroad.
- Keep an eye out for summer jobs posted Students Union website, notice-boards and jobs wall.
- Check out summer jobs advertised other Institutes of Technology and University Careers Service websites.
- Ask friends you have in other colleges, where their summer jobs are advertised.
Many summer jobs are never advertised, so it's up to you to go out there and find them! Here's how:
- Tell everyone that you're looking for work - relatives, neighbours, friends of the family. They may have contacts in your field who could talk to you and give you useful advice
- Talk to people in the industry and ask for advice about how to secure work - use any contacts you have
- Follow-up on contacts that people give you
- Talk to your lecturers - tell them about your plans and see if they have any contacts
- Contact companies early in the year - don't leave it until June
- Consider small and medium sized employers not just the large employers/multinationals
- Target specific companies that you would be interested in working for, and make contact with them. Make a phone call to find out whether they have any summer work available before you send in a CV.
- Always tailor your CV and cover letter to the company/position for which you're applying. This approach will be more successful than sending out hundreds of very general CVs and cover letters.