Clare Halldron: Careers Consultant
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Making the most of your Italian experience
Today we will cover
• How a Year in Italy can help with your Career plans
• How to make the most of your experiences in Italy
• Useful resources
• How to access support from Student Careers & Skills
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Why are you going to Italy?
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Because I have to, as part of my degree
Have a good time in a warm place
It’s why I decided to take an Italian Studies degree
Improve my Italian language
Experience a fantastic culture
Return to the UK with more skills and life experiences
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Getting experience abroad gives you
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
 More chance to use Italian on a daily basis
 Deeper understanding of the country
 Potential for personal & skills development
 Work experience for your CV
 £££
 Chance to build your employer networks
 Opportunity to ‘try out’ career ideas
Getting experience abroad gives you
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………skills….
Language skills
Initiative
Responsiveness
Ambition
Creativity
Influencing
• Leadership
Team work
Problem Solving
Innovation
Confidence
Adaptability
Integrity
Technical Ability
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Communication
Cultural Awareness
Commercial Awareness
Task Management
Personal Effectiveness
Thrives on Challenge
Entrepreneurial
Top 5 skills that Top 100 graduate employers look for?
Teamwork/Communication/Problem Solving/Confidence/Creativity
Tell me about a time when you dealt
with a challenging problem?
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Context
During my Year Abroad I was helping to teach English in a local primary
school. One boy constantly misbehaved and distracted other children
from doing their work. My task was to change his behaviour so he was
less disruptive.
Action
I thought about this beforehand then took him aside and asked to talk
about it. I asked for his suggestions. He explained he did not understand
what he was meant to be doing . We agreed that if this happened again,
he would ask for help. When he asked for help, I praised him for doing
this.
Result
He became less disruptive and the whole class was better behaved. I was
praised by teacher for the way I handled the situation.
Evaluation
It was useful to prepare before my conversation, then involve him in
solving the problem.
Making the most of your time away
from Warwick?
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
The Italian year abroad “takes up” two summers
(from a prompts-from-Careers-and-Skills-to-get-work-experience
perspective)
You will be off campus from June 2016 to October 2017, so you are in a
unique situation in comparison to other Warwick students from your
cohort: you arrive back onto campus in 2017 either behind or ahead of
the game – it’s your choice which!
What to do?
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
University/community activities
Part Time Work
Volunteering projects
Unpaid internship in business / NGO
Vacation work
When to do work experience
Vacations
• Summers before or after year abroad
• Easter and Christmas vacations
Term-time
• Use your non-taught time!
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Types of work experience
Part Time Work
• On campus at overseas university
• In local community e.g. bars, shops
• English tutoring
• Childcare / Au pair
Paid work
TEFL/English tutoring
Tourism
Customer service
Childcare / Summer Camps
Anything where they need an English speaker!
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Types of work experience
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Volunteering
Social projects e.g. asylum seekers, disability
Conservation
Environmental work
Translation and Interpreting
Working with children
Often registration fee involved
How to find work abroad
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Easier to find work once you are out there:
•Local careers services e.g. University
careers/student support offices
•Recruitment Agencies / organised programmes
•Advertisements on jobsites /in newspapers
•Networking: personal contacts
+ Warwick students/alumni + LinkedIn
•Speculative Approaches
Speculative Approaches
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
• Many organisations don’t need to advertise work experience
opportunities
• Targeting organisations demonstrates you are committed and
driven
The first step is to identify companies
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Past students have worked with…
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STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/work/shortterm/italy.shtml
http://www.wwoof.org/
http://www.seasonworkers.com/
http://www.canvasholidaysrecruitment.com/
http://www.iapa.org/
http://www.aupair-world.net/
http://www.natives.co.uk/
Useful links
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
Year Abroad:
http://www.thirdyearabroad.com/
Booking appointments
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/appointments/
Jobs abroad
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/findingajob/abroad/
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/findingajob/goingglobal/
What’s on
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/whatson/
Help Available
STUDENT CAREERS & SKILLS
On Campus: One to One appointments
Thursdays in H0.42 Tuesdays at University House– book
appointment via myAdvantage on Student Careers & Skills
website
Support for applications and CVs 20 minute Job Search
appointments in University House, 30 minute careers guidance
and a broad range of workshops
Off Campus: (during holidays and your Year Abroad)
Skype appointments
E-guidance
CV reviews
C.M.Halldron@warwick.ac.uk; careers@warwick