{"id":24642,"date":"2025-04-03T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T01:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/?post_type=oasis-news&#038;p=24642"},"modified":"2025-03-31T11:14:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T03:14:52","slug":"looking-for-work-experience","status":"publish","type":"oasis-news","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/oasis-news\/looking-for-work-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking for work experience?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Searching for \u2018work experience\u2019 opportunities can be confusing. Organisations can use a few different terms for work experience including placements, internships, <a href=\"https:\/\/au.gradconnection.com\/career-advice\/article\/vacation-programs-your-gateway-to-a-career\/\">vacation (vac) work or <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/au.gradconnection.com\/career-advice\/article\/vacation-programs-your-gateway-to-a-career\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">programs<\/a>, cadetships and the more formal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/students\/experience\/industry\/\">work integrated learning<\/a> which is usually attached to a unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Finding a work experience opportunity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s pretty straightforward if a work experience opportunity is advertised and you meet the criteria &#8211; sort out your application and apply. Remember, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/students\/personal-support\/career-advice\/apply\/\">Curtin Careers<\/a> is here to help you with your applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Securing unadvertised work experience, or even developing your own opportunity, can be a more challenging. Here are our top tips on how to approach this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Check out who is advertising in your field, noting the mid-tier or smaller companies you could approach. Larger organisations are more likely to conduct formal work experience programs and are therefore less likely to take on individual students.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Create a letter of speculation introducing yourself as seeking work experience. Highlight your skills, attributes, and passion to gain entry to your field.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Talk to your networks, including folks in your workplace or community. Don\u2019t have any networks yet? You can begin building some via student clubs, professional associations or online via <a href=\"https:\/\/au.linkedin.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Seek out an industry mentor to ask for advice around breaking into your field. Don\u2019t ask directly for work experience but opportunities may come via this relationship.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keep an eye on UniHub &#8211; you never know when <a href=\"https:\/\/unihub.curtin.edu.au\/students\/app\/jobs\/search?perPage=20&amp;page=1&amp;sort=!postdate&amp;job_type=14&amp;currentJobId=a55c247a54c360f6f8444bbfa8d1a803\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">work experience opportunities<\/a> that might just fit your degree and skillset will be posted.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enrol in an internship unit if one exists in your course. Try not to leave this to the final semester where possible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What about unpaid work experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s important to note that work experience opportunities can be unpaid \u2013 meaning you\u2019ll need to way up a whole lot of considerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pros:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You\u2019re investing in your future.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do well and you can a great professional referee and, potentially, a paid opportunity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You\u2019ll get to experience a new and professional working environment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It\u2019s a chance to broaden your network.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You\u2019ll be able use the knowledge you\u2019ve gained while studying &#8211; putting theory into practice.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Cons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Can you afford it? If you\u2019re working to support your studies, committing to an unpaid opportunity may mean less time for paid work.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Juggling your time \u2013 do you have the time to spare alongside your other commitments?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Even unpaid work experience takes time and effort to find and secure.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>While certain unpaid work arrangements are lawful, others are not. To ensure you\u2019re not being taken advantage of, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairwork.gov.au\/tools-and-resources\/fact-sheets\/unpaid-work\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fair Work Ombudsman website<\/a> for guidelines around unpaid work experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have found an unpaid work experience opportunity, you may not be covered by the organisation\u2019s Personal Accident Insurance (PAI). Recruit Curtin provides&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/curtin.au1.qualtrics.com\/jfe\/form\/SV_eeWoeFwM1iAVPI9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">free work experience insurance to eligible Curtin students<\/a>&nbsp;for approved, co-curricular placements that comply with the Fair Work Act (2009).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember, if you would like to talk to us about finding work experience and building your skillset, simply <a href=\"https:\/\/unihub.curtin.edu.au\/students\/index.php?ss=app_main&amp;s=calendar&amp;mode=form\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">book in online<\/a> for a Careers Conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This article was written by&nbsp;Career Development Consultant, Susan Surgener.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Invest in your future by gaining work experience <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4442,"featured_media":23496,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"5649,7072,4962,7831,5207,4792","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_oasis-categories":0,"footnotes":""},"oasis-categories":[131],"class_list":["post-24642","oasis-news","type-oasis-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","oasis-categories-careers"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/INT-job-interviews-opportunities-articles-1000x500.jpg","author_meta":{"display_name":"Erica Stewart"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-04 13:41:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"oasis-categories","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news\/24642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/oasis-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-news\/24642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"oasis-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oasis-categories?post=24642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}