Does the thought of finally completing your certificate or diploma and figuring out which real-life job to pursue fill your stomach with butterflies? You’re not alone.
“I meet students all the time who are torn between different options,” confides Senior Advisor for Student Recruitment at Chisholm, Tania Pearce.
Being nervous about choosing a full-time occupation can be a positive sign, Tania says: it shows that you care about your future and take work seriously. The best way to calm that churning tummy, she advises, is to ‘test drive’ one or more careers to find the best fit for you.
“It’s been widely demonstrated that having some volunteer work on your resumé or on a job application is beneficial overall.”
Here are three ways you can do just that.
Volunteering
There are opportunities to volunteer in almost all industries, Tania says, whether you’re studying community services or horticulture. Volunteers are always in demand, and organisations won’t mind accommodating your study schedule. “It’s probably the simplest way to gain exposure to a particular field without any of the commitment of being employed,” she says.
Volunteering can make it easier to secure a job within that profession further down the track. “In addition to being a test drive, it’s a way of making connections and developing networks,” Tania says. “In a few years’ time, a job might come up at that organisation, and those people could remember you.”
Aside from the sector-specific connections you’ll make, volunteering can also help when you apply for unrelated jobs. If you’re putting together your first resume and have little experience to list, your volunteering role could be especially advantageous. “It’s been widely demonstrated that having some volunteer work on your resumé or on a job application is beneficial overall,” Tania says. In fact, 92 per cent of employers say volunteering in a relevant field will give you an advantage at job interviews.
“Some students have made such an impression that companies have then offered them a position, paid towards their studies and granted them study leave.”
Temping
Temping agencies, also known as staffing companies or recruitment agencies, match workers with a range of short-term jobs (some as short as one day) in various industries. The agency will look at your existing skills and qualifications and put you forward for temporary jobs that are a good fit. Depending on your skills and education, you could be doing office-related placements, outdoor/manual work, hospitality jobs and much more.
“By temping, a student gains skills and knowledge about a range of sectors, industries, skill-sets and more,” Tania says. “It can really give students an opportunity to understand the different careers that are out there, some they may not have even heard of before.”
Even better, you’ll be paid casual rates. And, while temping means the employer is not committed to you, it can be a pathway to full-time work. “I have heard that some students have made such an impression that companies have then offered them a position, paid towards their studies and granted them study leave,” Tania says.
Interning
Internships come in all shapes and sizes, from intensive week-long positions (that can be completed during TAFE holidays) to one-day-per-week roles that can stretch across a whole year. Interns generally perform tasks that entry-level employees might perform, but do the work for free in order to gain experience within a company or sector.
Traditionally, interning has occurred mainly in office-based sectors – the equivalent practice in trades and most other TAFE-trained sectors is apprenticing. If you’re studying business, computer technology or another office-based course, Tania recommends speaking to your tutor about internship opportunities.
This article was first published in November 2019 and has been updated.
