As a student the hardest part of my short journey is ‘how to gain experience without experience?’ To rewind to the beginning of my process I will start by mentioning a bit about myself. I’m Ellie, I’m 19 and I’m doing an International Hospitality and Design degree in Switzerland. The second part of my semester is a work placement. As this degree is fairly broad I was most interested in the sales and marketing segment and wanted to explore this further! My friends and I found it incredibly difficult to find work experiences or placements which offered this position with students who did not have relevant experience in this area!
I have been interested and had heard of recruitment before and it had sparked up a conversation time to time about how this is an industry which involves working from a lot of different angles! Within a few hours of my first day at Uxbridge Employment I could see this was clearly true as I have been involved with everything from sales support, advertising and PA work. So I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to explore different departments to see which really suited me the best! I was very lucky and had a friend who knew Charles the MD of UEA and was able to get me in contact and was able to have a phone interview, to then be shortly followed by a Skype interview with Lauren who was able to run through everything with me and to be able to put an active plan into place to gain constructive experience which would be most beneficial!
I was so nervous and apprehensive to walk into the office and to imprint a good first impression on everyone, as I’ve never worked in an office it made it evermore nerve-wracking! But immediately I was made to feel at home and welcomed into the team. My first impression of the office was that it was very fast paced; a constant sense of excitement and a fabulous close knit team! One thing which I kept telling myself is not to be shy, smile and listen. There are a million and one different conversations happening and phone calls going on, it was super important that I threw myself in and to try and obtain as much information and key words as possible. Over my first couple days of being here it is so clear that everyone puts their all into their role, super energetic throughout the whole day and have a genuine care for all of their candidates.
The girls are amazing to work with and have given me guidance and support from the moment I stepped into the office and have found friends in every single one. I am excited to watch, observe and learn more for the rest of my time here.
You will be hearing again from me shortly once I have finished my work experience to let you all know how I got on and what my top tips are for securing great work experience.