Summer work
Your qualification alone is no longer enough to guarantee you a good job once you finish studying. Employers are looking for something extra such as relevant work experience and transferable skills.
Summer work is a great way to earn some much needed cash, and to develop skills which will make you more employable when you leave university or college.
Ideally you might want to get a summer job related to the career area you plan to enter when you finish studying. This will give you an opportunity to find out what the work is really like and whether or not it's for you.
If you're not sure what to do once you leave college, summer work experience will enable you to explore different career areas.
Even work which isn't directly related to your career plans will improve your employment prospects. Students with work experience are more attractive to employers because they have developed transferable skills such as communication, leadership, teamworking and initiative.
How to find a summer job
Below is useful information about sourcing advertised and unadvertised vacancies:
Advertised summer vacancies
- Summer jobs notified to DIT Careers Service are advertised in Jobscene - our daily vacancy bulletin.
- Look at the employment section of gradireland.
- Keep an eye out for summer jobs posted up on your department noticeboard, Careers Service and Students Union noticeboards.
- Check out summer jobs advertised on Careers Sections of other Institutes of Technology and University websites.
- Ask friends you have in other colleges, where their summer jobs are advertised.
Unadvertised summer vacancies
- Many summer jobs are never advertised, so it's up to you to go out there and find them ! Here's how:
- Tell everyone that you're looking for work - relatives, neighbours, friends of the family. They may have contacts in your field who could talk to you and give you useful advice.
- Talk to people in the industry and ask for advice about how to secure work - use any contacts you have.
- Follow-up on contacts that anyone gives you.
- Talk to your lecturers - tell them about your plans and see if they have any contacts.
- Contact companies early - don't leave it till June.
- Consider small and medium sized employers not just the large employers/multinationals
- Target specific companies that you would be interested in working for, and make contact with them. Make a phone call to find out whether they have any summer work available before you send in a CV. Always tailor your CV and cover letter to the company/position for which you're applying. This approach will be more successful than sending out hundreds of very general CVs and cover letters.
The Kompass Directory is a good place to start identifying companies relevant to your career area. Search under Ireland, products and services plus a relevant keyword e.g. Information Technology. This search will generate a list of all companies in Ireland who work in your career area, with links to their websites and email addresses. Kompass is available in most of DIT libraries.
