My top tips for work experience

Any excuse to buy cute stationary ! (l-r) Watercolour bird A5 notebook, Vintage compact mid-year diary, pencil case old All from Paperchase

Getting ready for your first day of work experience is a bit like getting ready for a first date. You spend ages picking out your outfit so you make the right impression, do a little background research and think of lots of interesting things to say. And like a date, we all want the first day of work experience to go well as it really takes the pressure off the following ones.
Right now thousands of people will be packing up their rooms ready to move to university in a month, thousands more will be planning the next step in their career or higher education and thousands, like me, will be finishing off their education before going out to find a full time job. Where ever you and who ever you are, work experience is an invaluable extra to your CV and yourself. Work experience gives you an insight into the career you want and will either make or break you in deciding where you want to go.
I've put together a few simple tips to keep in mind throughout your placement so you and, the company you're at, can get the most from it.

Before

• Keep in touch - I don't mean bombard them with emails everyday but if you've arranged your work experience a few months in advance you might want to drop them a line and confirm the dates. 
• Ask questions - Check the office hours and who you should ask for when you arrive reception. You might want to check the dress code although sometimes the company will mention it themselves or it will just be obvious. Office work usually = smart attire
• Do your research - Find out all you can about the company. If you're going to work at a newspaper for example, read some of their back editions, find out their target audience and what type of stories they report on the most
• Be prepared - Book your travel tickets, arrange accommodation if needed, check the directions to your workplace. If you're like me, you might even want to plan a few outfits in advance.

During

• Be friendly - You'll probably be introduced to the office when you arrive so be friendly and enthusiastic, and I mean for the entire placement not just when you say hello
• Ask questions - Find out how people got into their career, ask for extra work or if there's anything you can help with, offer to make coffee, anything that will make a good impression
• Be organised - Keep a diary and notebook of all the important information. Keep your colleauges conact details, any information about tasks you've been given, etc.
• Get the most out of your placement - Sometimes a placement might not entirely live up to your expectations so think about what you can do to make it better. If there's a specific project you want to get involved in ask your team leader, the worst they can say is no! See if anyone else in the office needs helping out

After

• Be grateful - you don't have to fall to your knees in gratitude but before you leave the office make sure to thank the people who have looked after you and shown you around. It shows common courtesy and they might invite you back again
• Get contact details - the person who was looking after you, they know other people in the industry and could open loads of doors for you
• Keep in contact - again don't bombard them with emails but drop them a line to say how much you enjoyed the placement. You could ask if you could come back again or whether they could put you in contact with other companies

That's it really. It's not rocket science. Be confident, calm and prepared, come brimming with ideas and ready to help out with any task, and any team will be happy for your help.

What are your top tips for a successful placement?

Beth xxx

My week at Fabulous magazine

I've just got back from London, where I spent on of the busiest - and best! - weeks of my life interning at Fabulous magazine. It was the first time I'd stayed in the big city by myself, which meant learning to navigate the tube, find my way around London (thank god for the GPS app on my phone) and putting up with people checking in the hostel where I was staying at gone midnight, every single night, but it was all worth it.

The lovely little goody bag the beauty team at Fabulous put together for me

I've always wanted to go into print journalism, specifically magazines but this was the first time that I have actually had the opportunity to work for one and it just confirmed to me that this is the career I want. I loved travelling through London during the rush hour, I loved working in a busy office surrounded by people who have the careers I want, I loved writing and researching articles, calling publishing houses, helping out on photoshoots and transcribing interviews (even though it took up hours of each day).

My first day at the magazine I was feeling pretty nervous. I'd arrived in London the afternoon before so I had time to learn my way to work but I still had the nerves of first time solo travelling weighing on my shoulders not to mention a night of disrupted sleep and panic over what to wear to the office. But I had no need to worry, everyone in the office was really friendly and I was soon settled at my own desk pouring over that days newspapers looking for feature ideas - and I even managed to mention a couple of ideas to the Features Director. Everyday I had writing and researching to do or phone calls to make and the hours just flew by - although I was knackered by the time I got back to the hostel!

My reward at the end was not only an invaluable insight into the world of women's magazines, but a beautiful goody bag put together by the Fabulous beauty team crammed full of wonderful beauty products that I will no doubt be sharing with you soon.

If you have the slightest interest in any job sector I would recommend trying to get some work experience or an internship with a related company as soon as you can. Drop them an email, make a phone call, what do you have to lose? You can read and research all about your chosen career but they're nothing like actually joining the office for a few days and becoming part of the team.

Check out my top tips for work experience here!

Beth xxx

Life Lately #1

Wow, I have been absent for a very, very long time and I can only apologise. I'm not really sure what happened to be honest with you, one minute I was blogging away and then the next I was taking a short break which turned into a 3 month sabbatical!

So here's a quick run down of what I've been up to:

1) Sitting two more NCTJ exams. Not thrilling and very hard work. I'm pleased to say I passed (just) with grade C's in both exams
2) Finishing the second year of university. Where has the time gone! It seems like yesterday my parents were dropping me off at halls and I was enjoying Freshers fortnight - now it's on the really hard work, I'm talking dissertation and final year project. Gulp!
3) Work experience. I did a week at the Hereford Times in June, which I actually really enjoyed. It wasn't that I was expecting it to be boring, I've just never been great at news journalism - give me a magazine concept and a lifestyle or beauty idea and I could write for hours. I'm also super excited to say I will be working at Fabulous magazine for week starting on Monday.
4) Final year housing. Probably the most stressful situation of the summer so far. We had a 3 bed house sorted back in February and paid the deposit only to find out in June that our house had been sold and we were technically homeless for 3rd year. Luckily a gorgeous 3 bed came on the market the day we were viewing new properties and we decided to rent it. It was an upsetting couple of weeks but I'm happy to say it's all sorted and I can't wait to move in with my friends in September.
5) Holiday time. I've just come back from a week away with the family in Yorkshire. We stayed in a tiny little village with no mobile signal and terrible wifi! We did get to go on some lovely moor walks and made it into York city centre a couple of times so I could go shopping!

I've also decided to give my blog a little overhaul. I'll be designing a new header and including longer articles about beauty and lifestyle. While I love writing reviews - and I think if we're honest we all enjoy reading an honest one - I really want to branch out a bit with my writing.

Well that's all for now. I have to sort out my suitcase for tomorrow and try and then try and get a good nights sleep!

Beth

xxx