Work Experience: Assessment & Requirements
As part of your degree you must complete 12 weeks (60 working days) of work experience.
Benefits of Work Experience
Aside from the study requirements, work experience has many additional benefits:
- Work Experience is a Networking Opportunity - you will meet many
people with similar interests. Even if they do not have a job vacancy
now, you may be working with them at some point in the future. Everyone
you meet will be able to teach you something you didn't know about
engineering or the industry. Visit
Network Now
for further information on UniSA networking events.
- Career Decision Making - use this opportunity to consider what you
really want in a job. Only when you are actually in the workplace can
you gain a true understanding of the job. This includes learning about
the work ethic of the employer, the industry and different job roles.
This is also the perfect time to consider what you would like or dislike
in your future.
Please note: your assessment requirement requires you to describe how your industrial experience has changer, or reinforced, your career goals
- Improve your skills - you have learnt many skills at university;
this is your chance to put these skills into practice - and to learn
more. You can choose to learn specific technical skills and/or different
qualities, such as team work and communication skills. Your employer is
likely to be receptive if you ask to learn a skill.
- Work experience is likely to lead on to a job offer - if you show that you are reliable and enthusiastic. It is acceptable to talk to your manager about your future and make him/her aware that you would like to continue to work for the company.
Assessment
Please see the work experience requirements document
For any other queries please see your Program Director.
To complete your assessment you will need to enter you experiences into MyCareerPlan to provide a portfolio or journal of evidence. MyCareerPlan is an online database which provides you with a way of recording your Graduate Qualities as well as listing graduate employment, events, links to employers and resources that will assist you to secure employment such as the Resume Builder Tool.
You are aiming to collect experiences which demonstrate your skills against the Graduate Qualities. Enter experiences which are meaningful to you. You can refer to this information to remind yourself of your achievements when you are preparing for a future interview.
Structuring an entry in
MyCareerPlan
Structuring your answers when recording achievement in MyCareerPlan will ensure they are easy to read. One way to do this, supported by many employers, is to use the acronym STAR. This technique is also useful when writing applications for jobs and answering interview questions.
SITUATION - Put the experience into context. i.e. the department you are working for, background details about the overall project, etc.
TASK - The objective you were given which allowed you to develop your Graduate Quality. i.e. worked in a team of 25 engineers, etc.
ACTION - What you did in relation to the Graduate Quality.
RESULT - The outcome - try to quantify your success.
The following link will provide you with step by step instructions when recording your achievements through MyCareerPlan.