What evidence is there to suggest that work experience is beneficial to your future career? “Internships have been described as a bridge between the theory of the classroom and the world of practice” (Nevett 1985, cited in Gault, J, Redington, J and Schlager, T. 2000. p.3) as they expose students to the working environment, allowing them to apply their knowledge to real life situations therefore testing their abilities in a different manner to classic academic exams. In this essay I will evaluate the benefits and explore some possible negatives that work experience can have on an individual’s future career in order to decide …show more content…
I have found that, along with being integrated with graduate recruitment, work experience increases the employability of interns by improving their networking and professional skills, putting them in an advantageous position in the competitive graduate market. However, the value of these benefits depends on the career choice of the individual but overall it should remain beneficial, unless it is unpaid and not followed by a job offer, in which case the benefits are greatly diminished. Despite this, I believe work experience would be beneficial to an individual’s future career based on their improved position in the graduate job market, no matter what career they choose, and increased job satisfaction. Looking into the future, with the number of graduates growing each year, it seems inevitable that the value of work experience will continue to rise relative to that of a degree, indicating that work experience will become increasingly beneficial when competing in the graduate job market. Currently, however, academic programmes are regarded superior due to the lack of research into the effectiveness of internships which diminishes the legitimacy of such programmes. In light of this, I conclude that work experience is beneficial to an individual’s future