work experience section

[bob]

what do you write in this section? is it purely a quick summary of your responsibilities or should you also use the space to talk about the skills you developed and knowledge you acquired. Some firms even provide a 250w limit for writing about details of the job (which is quite a lot!).


Would something like this work or am i writing too much:

(Details of responsibilities/ role) I had so and so responsibility at X. i had to produce Y and liase with Z. Additionally, i had to do C..

(What i learned) Working at x has provided me a,b,c,d. Moreover, I witnessed first-hand e, as well as f, etc

(what i contributed/something that shows i wasn't just passive) Having never worked in this sector, i was thrown into the deep end from the first day ....stimulated i did so and so to be on top of things...doing so and so i was given more responsibility and became valued member of the team...etc.


Lastly, does volunteer work done within an organisation with rigid hours (i.e. the RNLI) count as work experience or does it have to go under extra-curriculars?

Any thoughts/discussion would be great! Thanks!

 

[Jaysen]

Good question. While we don't review work experience in applications, I've seen so many different approaches to this section.

Back when I approached this, I would always go for the concise summary of my responsibilities. It was my view that firms wanted your "pitch" in the application questions, whereas the purpose of the work experience section was to get a to-the-point overview of what you've been up to.

That said, I've seen many students use this section to talk about what they learned/the skills they developed. I can't say I know whether firms prefer one over the other. Although, I did hear Shearman's graduate recruiter recommending students write about what they learned in one of his videos.

Personally, I don't think it matters too much and the structure you suggested seems fine. I'd be interested to hear everyone else's thoughts on this though.