Finding work experience
- Work experience in the North East
- Work experience in the UK
- Global work experience
- Speculative applications
- Unpaid work experience
- Need more help?
Newcastle University resources
- Vacancies Online - search for part-time jobs, summer internships and year long industrial placements
- Newcastle Work Experience - paid summer and term-time placements with local businesses
- Passport to Work - work shadowing in the hospitality and retail sectors
- North East Graduate Directory - database of local organisations who offer work experience or accept speculative applications
- Career Development module - work experience for academic credit
Work experience in the UK
- Vacancies Online - search for summer internships and year long industrial placements
- Prospects: Work experience
- TARGETjobs: Work experience
- Fledglings.net - student internships
- RateMyPlacement - find placements and read reviews by students. Includes placements for first year students.
- Student Ladder - lists placement opportunities for first, second and final year students
- StudentJob - internships and summer work for students and graduates.
- E4S - internships and placements in the UK and abroad.
- Instant Impact - internships with small and medium-sized enterprises. Free registration required to access vacancy details.
- Milkround - internships and vacation schemes for students and graduates
- STEP - UK wide project based work placements for students and graduates.
- hotrecruit - seasonal, part time, temporary work.
- Top Internships - for students and graduates.
- Buro - internships and placements across the UK.
- (✔)DisabilityToolKits - advice and work experience opportunities specifically for disabled students.
- Inside Careers - internships in Business, Finance, Engineering and Technology.
- Year in Industry - year long industrial placements.
- Grad Jobs: Work Placement - internships for graduates.
- Enternships - internships and graduate positions in entrepreneurial environments.
- Give A Grad A Go - internships for graduates, mostly based in London.
- Graduate Talent Pool - for graduates of the last three years.
- Researchers in Residence - UK placement scheme placing PhD and post-doctoral researchers in secondary schools.
- Placement UK - paid placements for European students.
- Regional vacancies - includes work experience schemes across the UK, mostly for graduates.
Global work experience
- Vacancies Online - search for summer internships and year long industrial placements
- Going Global - global internship listings
- Global Placements
- ihipo - international career networking and internships
- Projects Abroad - volunteer projects for gap years, electives and summer placements
- Europe-internship - work experience in Europe
- EURES - links to websites offering internships in Europe.
- Intern Jobs - worldwide internship opportunities.
- AIPT - a variety of work experience/internship opportunities in the USA
- IAESTE - work placements for UK resident engineering, science and architecture students
- Vulcanus in Japan - an EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Co-operation placement programme for engineering or science students.
- RISE - summer internship program for undergraduate science or engineering students to research in Germany.
- AIESEC - student organisation offering paid and voluntary international placements, ranging from 6 weeks to 18 months, in 110 countries. Includes an application fee to view available placements.
- InterExchange jobs - paid internships and J-1 visa sponsorship for the USA. Includes a non-refundable application-processing fee.
- Work experience in the USA - Newcastle University Careers Service guide to temporary employment routes in the USA (PDF: 241.69KB)
- Working outside the UK - information about working abroad and resources for finding vacancies
Speculative applications
Not all jobs are advertised! In fact, many people create work experience opportunities through networking or by developing their own business ideas. Making a speculative approach to a company can also be an effective way to secure a job. Once you have identified a company you would like to work for you should approach them about possible vacancies. This is often done through an initial phone call or e-mail and followed up with a CV and covering letter. Visit our Making applications for hints and tips on presenting yourself successfully on paper.
Unpaid work experience
Some competitive occupational areas can be difficult to break into without first gaining experience through working on an unpaid basis. Such areas include media, politics, journalism, and the creative arts.
If you are considering working on an unpaid basis, then you may have questions about your employment or payment rights. The following websites give information about unpaid work experience:
- AllAboutCareers: Know Your Rights – article on pay entitlements for placements, internships and work experience.
- Nottingham University: paid or unpaid work experience – links to recent news articles and includes a list of questions to ask yourself before accepting an unpaid position.
- Manchester University: employment rights – covers how to structure your work experience and questions about expenses.
- Direct.gov: The National Minimum Wage – sets out legislation and payment entitlement, as well as where to get further help.
- Rightsforinterns.org – Trade Union Congress (TUC) website covering questions about whether or not interns should be paid.
- INTERNSHIPS: An Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) Position Statement [PDF: 81.6KB].
Need more help?
- Exploring Occupations - resources to find sector specific work experience, scholarship opportunities or competitions
- Finding vacancies - see the part-time/seasonal vacancies section
- Volunteering - volunteering opportunities and benefits
If you need more help finding work experience come in and talk to us - no appointment needed.