For Sale: Myself- looking for unpaid work!

For sale: Me
Price: £0 ONO

Hi guys,
I've just done my GCSE's and I've got 3 weeks or so with nothing to do in late August. I'm looking for some work experience, so I am volunteering myself forward for anyone who needs an extra pair of hands around the place.

I would be delighted if transport/lunch costs could be covered, but happy also to work completely for free...

Hopefully casual atmosphere, somewhere nearish to london, easily accessible by rail (I live in Bushey near watford).

Will do full time 9-5.

Extra good if job is engineering related, will hopefully be doing that at uni.

So guys, if you've got anything, gimme a shout. My e-mail is h.xu@etoncollege.org.uk or PM, can send CV and more info/arrange meetup etc...

Haofeng

(I think I can come up with some convoluted logic to justify posting this in the for sale section...)

How tall are you?

h.xu@etoncollege.org.uk

Posh boy....only joking

you might want to create your own email account (hotmail,yahoo,google) instead of using your college address. just thought i would point it out!

What form of engineering? Might be an idea to contact your school to see if they have any links with engineering firms for work experience, maybe email engineers without borders if they will take you on in a research part to do some work, or if you want more hands on, national rail or some sort of manufacturing nearby, they might be okay with having you around, also might be an idea seeing if you can do something with universities, you've sadly probably missed deadlines for getting grants but they tend to look favourably on eager individuals. It depends on what you want out of it, something for the CV or uni application form, or to get an idea what its like in an industry, ideally you should aim for a 3 week solid stint and then see if your college will allow you out for a day / afternoon a week to keep it up at a place doing something you'd be interested in doing a degree in their type of work which would have the benefit of you being of use to the company (if only doing a small project) while giving you insight and CV stuff.

feng.. hope you get something, glad to see someone showing initiative in these crappy times, help out if you can guys

Good initiative Feng,you could perhaps try some of the car related forums as well,here's a couple of volvo ones to get you going. www.vpcuk.org. and www.volvoclub.org.uk. Good luck with the search and the engineering career.

At your age I directly contacted an engineering firm with a speculative CV and covering letter and got a week's work experience with no problem. If you are keen and got the skills it will show through. I was offered Uni sponsorship thanks to this experience but I turned it down because I didn't want to stay in my home town after graduation. Obviously the job market has changed significantly in the last few years but firms are still taking on good students and good graduates, so get your research targeted and relevant and throw your CV out there. Good luck.

Also i wouldn't offer yourself up like this especially on this forum! who knows what freaky requests you may get! A female friend of mine once offered up her services on gumtree and received many a reply from one particular man offering her £300 a week so that he could worship her feet........she took the job, i mean university is expensive nowadays! Good luck!

I tried recently to seek work experience (in the arts) and frustratingly got no where.
Good luck with the search, and be tenacious.

I would be delighted if transport/lunch costs could be covered, but happy also to work completely for free...

Hopefully casual atmosphere, somewhere nearish to london, easily accessible by rail (I live in Bushey near watford).

Volunteering for the LCC?

I could offer you work experience at the studio, bit the last boy we got in just made tea and went to the shop to buy tangfastics for a week

Thanks for the advice guys, I did e-mail a bunch of local engineering firms with my CV and covering letter, but I haven't had a single reply. I think in these "hard times", no-ones really keen on internships and the like...

I would have gone through my school, and more official channels to get work experience, but I kinda left it a little late, since most positions started recruiting way back in January and even last year. So when I tried places like Rolls Royce and BAE etc, they just told me to apply for next year's summer...sigh

I'm sure I could get some pen-pushing job at the local estate agents making coffee etc, but I'm not sure quite what I'd get out of it...I thought if I looked on here, I might get something a bit more hands on and exciting.

@east end images: LCC? London Cycling Club? London College of Comunication? (Lancashire County Council?)

@ FRANK , what kinda studio is it? I mean I'm sure it will be better than bumming around at home...:P

Also, e-mail edited...it really is a blessing and a curse. lol

good initiative dude, unpaid internship work FTW.

Maybe try out places outside of the country? In my first year of uni doing Pharmacy, I'd decided to instead become a medical writer or similar, and wrote to a handful of companies, one of which was based in Switzerland. they were impressed with my initiative and let me do a 2-week internship with them in Switzerland. I had to pay for my flight over there, but they put me up in their accommodation (usually reserved for new starters to the company). Although I had to spend some of my own cash on the flight, I learned shitloads; without this first internship I'm sure I wouldn't be so lucky as to be in my job now. Keep at it, and don't be afraid of selling yourself and seeming like you're bothering people, in my experience it's NEEDED!

Feng, it's quite the opposite.

In these 'hard times' almost all companies would be interested in something for nothing. Even if you end up doing a back log of filing or sommat you're still saving them some time, money and freeing up a memeber of staff.

In my experience letters to companies will never get a response until you follow them up. On the occassions I have written speculatively to organisations I have always put in the letter something like "I will follow up this correspondance with a phone call on xx/xx/2010".
If you don't you letter will just sit on a desk or in an inbox somewhere under the heading 'sort when I've got time'.

What kind of engineering is it you're into...?
If it's structural or anything in built environment I might be able to hook you up.

Yeah I agree with WJ, I have had loads of work exp ppl over the last year, people trying to get the upper hand and standing out when applying for jobs, wish I could offer you something but a) Its not your field, though I do use CAD/CAM which you would probably end up using somewhere along the line and b) don't have the space / time busy time of the year for me so wouldn't be able to make it worth your while etc.

What sort of engineering are you interested in specifically?

ring "the Bike shop" in North Harrow 0208 427 5454 -and ask to speak to Malcolm - he's the owner- he may have something for you as he takes in Work Experience etc etc

John Lewis Brent Cross or Watford

Son wandered around the Harlequin Centre with his CV and got something.

Motormasters in Maple Cross- 01895 825390

@east end images: LCC? London Cycling Club? London College of Comunication? (Lancashire County Council?)

http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=34

Procter & Gamble take College Interns you may be a little late but Hey Ho ya never know...
Head Office Newcastle....but Got Offices at Brooklands too....
Google'tastic

and Good Luck