Your university application is a lot more than just filling out your personal biodata. There is your academic performance, your grades over the years, your extracurricular activities, and all those other things that add character to your image and prove that you have other interests and passions, such as reading. There is one more thing that can be super helpful when applying to university, which is unrelated to your school life. This may not give you any concrete qualification beyond the simple fact of the experience itself. This other thing is your work experience.
This can, in many ways, be any job at all – because it is not so much what you do as the fact that you simply do it.
Getting a job is tricky. You have to, first, look for a job, then apply for jobs, attend a job interview, and so on. At the end of it, you also actually have to do the job! While this may feel like a lot, understand that all of this is actually worth the pain. In this post, therefore, we will explain why it is so. Why do admission councils like seeing work experience on an application? Why having a job early on can be worth your while in the long run. Find out the answers to these and more!
How does Job Experience Help in University Applications?
Whether it is an internship or a part-time job, simple work placement, or a full-blown side hustle, academic institutions can learn a lot from the fact that you have an employment history. Universities are not just places where you learn, but they have a duty of care for you over three years. They need to be able to trust that students can handle life away from their comfort zone of the family.
Stand Out from the Crowd
Having a job experience, regardless of the specific job title, makes you a standout among applicants. It is true that not many schoolchildren can boast of work experience by the time they are applying to university. Being one of the few to do that is a real advantage. With a work experience listed on your application form, you are just making yourself look better.
Earn Transferrable Skills from Professional Experience
The skills that you gain during the course of your work experience tend to last a lifetime. Educational institutions tend to value the skills that work experiences can provide – from personal independence to effective communication. These soft skills can be easily acquired by way of work experience.
Do Things Outside of School
Extracurricular activities are great. However, they don’t need to come with qualifications or certificates for them to be useful for university applications. It can be helpful for you to show that you merely do something productive that is outside of the curriculum. This could be volunteer work at a local NGO or working at the local mart. What your university needs to see is that you have interests and a life outside of the classroom.
Demonstrate that Fighting Spirit
Getting a job is hard, especially in India. Harder still is holding down that job! Your employment history on a university application will show the world that you can handle a challenge – particularly when you are combining your paid work role with your schoolwork too.
Relevant Work Experience Sets You Up for a Rewarding Career
Of course, it is best if your work experience is relevant to the degree to which you are applying. If you are applying for music, it would be great if you could have been a music teacher. Or, if you are applying for medicine, some care work would be best. However, it is not strictly necessary.
Skills to Learn from Professional Experience
Work opportunities are, at the end of the day, learning opportunities. These spaces teach you the relevant skills that are necessary to excel at university too. Let's take a look at some of these skills that set you up for life!
Time Management
Time management is one of the most important employability skills there ever could be. Time management is also crucial during university. One can't forget about the dreaded deadlines throughout your time at university!
Communication Skills
Most jobs require effective communication skills and the ability to work well in teams. Effective communication means communication that is mature, polite, confident, and professional. Importantly, you will need all these traits during your interview at the university, and even after you have got yourself admitted to the university.
Multitasking and Prioritizing
Managing different priorities is a part of growing up. Managing different tasks, like managing your time, is crucial for your adult life and university experience.
Independence and Maturity
Universities want you to be self-sufficient. That’s part of what academic research is about. A job experience will teach you to be independent and force you to consider mature decision-making.
Problem-solving Skill
Problem-solving is a crucial skill for people to learn, be it at work or in daily life. Your workplace can be an introductory lesson on how to acquire this extremely crucial soft skill. Related to this is the ability to own up to the mistakes you commit. And, there will be plenty of them, you can rest assured. The ability to rectify your mistakes and move on from them is a very important sign of maturity.
Self-confidence
During school, that is the only world we know. Everything else can be exciting, yes, but it can also be a little terrifying. Getting yourself a job can reveal to you that things don’t need to be so scary. You can talk to adults, you can handle problems when they arrive, and you are a bit more financially independent. Self-confidence can often be the difference between successful university applications and unsuccessful ones.
Best Websites for Job Search
These days, most companies and recruiters post their job requirements and vacancies on online job portals. Job seekers browse jobs on these sites as per their qualifications, skills, and preferred industry. Job websites are open to a wide talent pool and not limited to a small number of applicants. Anybody can apply for jobs anywhere, regardless of their current location. Here are our top 3 picks in the best websites for a job search.
Indeed
Indeed has grown to become the #1 job site in India. The popular online job portal has revolutionized online job search in India. Job postings on Indeed are accompanied by company reviews that allow applicants to form an idea about the company they are applying to.
Naukri.com
Founded in 1997, Naukri is one of the oldest job search sites. It is accessed by hundreds of Indians daily. Naukri boasts of multinational listings, premium global opportunities, and a sizeable presence in Gulf countries. In the premium version, candidates can seek expert advice on how to build a resume by highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. The site is updated daily with job postings from recruiters. Most importantly, it is free to job seekers.
LinkedIn has been the biggest blessing for thousands of Indians laid off during the pandemic. LinkedIn connects you with various organizations with whom you are free to talk about your job and aspirations, apply for openings and take skill assessments. Users can directly reach out to recruiters, engage in fruitful conversations, and grow their network organically.
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