Most of you should know that work experience is a compulsory part of your degree. You will not be able to graduate until you have completed 60 days of industrial training. A report on your work experience must be handed into the school office. Industrial training is also assessed as a part of the fourth year ethics subject (ELEC4011).

Many students find it difficult to find work experience, and the hardest part is knowing where to begin. The following links and tips will start you on the track to landing a work experience job.

• The EE&T School Office sends out information, advertisements and flyers from companies offering experience. So check your unimail often. Additionally information on any industrial training, cadetships/scholarships and graduate opportunities will be posted on this website.
• The EE&T School Office website is the place to start for information and guidelines for work experience. You MUST read the industrial training page on the school office site - too many students nearing the end of their degree realise quite late that they have not met work experience requirements, and only find out about industrial training through word of mouth. The eet website for the basics on industrial training is found here:

  http://scoff.ee.unsw.edu.au/industrialTraining/industrialTraining.htm

  with the official engineering website information found here:

  http://www.eng.unsw.edu.au/it/itproced/index.htm

• UNSW Careers and Employment Online has an updated listing of companies offering all sorts of work. In this list can be found companies advertising industrial training positions. Check the site regularly. The UNSW Careers site also gives many tips on writing cover letters, resumes, CV's and also has tips for interviews. You can even visit the careers center to have your cover letter and résumé checked, with improvement advice also given!
• APESMA has a wealth of information for students, including thorough information on how to search for companies, how to prepare cover letters and résumés, tips for interviews, and also how to make the most of your experience. You will need to be a member to access this information and student membership is free. APESMA have even put together a list of companies who regularly offer work experience.
• Engineers Australia (formally known as The Institute of Engineer Australia) have information specifically put together for students looking for work experience.
• It is also a good idea to apply for as many scholarships/cadetships as you can as most will offer work experience as part of the prize. Even if you don't think you are good enough apply anyway, you might be the best candidate they have.

Apply for as many companies as possible, and don't be disheartened if you don't get through. It will be of valuable experience to rewrite your cover letters and résumés for many companies. Reread the ones that get you through to the next round and work out why. Getting interviews is very important, not only because it may land you the job, but it gives you the chance to practice and improve your interview communication skills for interviews to come, especially useful for when you become a graduate. If you are not successful after your interview, ring up the company and ask which aspects of the interview didn't go as well, or which skills you were lacking that they were particularly interested in.

And once you have done your 60 days, don't stop there! So much is learnt from industrial training that you will never get out of your theoretical studies at uni. Industrial training will also make you MUCH more employable once you finish uni - companies love people with experience. A final thing about industrial training - being full time work, your bank account will thank you too!

A set of slides with additional information on industrial training on the school website can also be found at this address:

http://scoff.ee.unsw.edu.au/industrialTraining/Job Searching for Industrial Training.pdf