jobs

‘Experience' is an essential yet sometimes equally elusive part of the working world. Many graduates are repeatedly saddened and frustrated to find out that they can have the best academic record but without relevant experience in the field that they're interested in, they are often turned away from job after job. When most companies are asking for experience but no company will give you any then it can be an endless dark loophole. But it's not all doom and gloom. If no one will give you it then you have to go out and get it! Here are three simple ways that you can get that all-important experience for the job you want and nail the next interview.

The percentage of graduates in the UK population is going up every year according to the Office for National Statistics. A record 38% of people in the UK possessed a degree in 2013 compared to 17% in 1992. The recession has had an obvious effect on the job market and an increasing number of graduates are entering jobs in Scotland and throughout the rest of the UK that don't require a degree. There are still plenty of graduate opportunities out there, though, and a number of ways that you can get ahead of the game when job hunting. Here are some tips to help you on your way.

Work Experience Pays Off

Since so many people now have degrees, employers are often looking for people who have practical as well as academic experience. While you're still at university, search for work experience within a relevant sector. If you're undecided between two different career paths it won't hurt to gain experience in both. Not only will it look great on your CV, but the work will help you decide whether that career path really is for you.

Very few things are worse than having to wake up early, very few. I wish I had never seen a sunrise in my life ever, involuntarily. But now that I have, many times, seen it, I hope to never see it again. That's how much I hate having to rise prematurely.

When I wake up early, round my region I always hear the unique call of one distinct bird, a distinct kind of bird, not a specific one. I hope it goes extinct, soon. These words are of course being spat out shortly before dawn, when I always feel entirely alone in the struggle.

I think I'd prefer it if all work would start not before 10am, so that most people wouldn't have to leave bed much earlier than 8am. Or if that's not workable, everyone could wake up whenever...except ME.

I forgot how it felt to have to wake up so early that it was still dark outside, before even the sun had a chance to slowly drag its head up in the sky. Nonsense, to have to start my day when my day hasn't yet started itself.

Probably if my body could talk, without orders from me, it would shout obscenities at me, from first sunlight and two hours following. I wouldn't protest. Oddly enough, since I was a boy, I always knew what I definitely did not want to be when I grow up. I always had a deep instinct that the worst job on earth must undoubtedly and unquestionably be:

More than 130 people drowned and about 200 are still accounted for after the shipwreck of a vessel full of African immigrants off Lampedusa island. Approximately 500 immigrants from Eritrea and Somalia were crammed on board of the flatboat, seeking a better future in Europe.

Without trying to diminish the severity of this tragedy, the overcrowded vessel reminds me of the situation on a train that I experienced last week. Many Slovaks are coming to the capital, Bratislava, attracted by the job opportunities and the cultural life. But on Friday afternoon, all of them want to get home. This means traffic jam, hundreds of people queuing at the ticket office and trains so full that 15 of us are standing at the toilet.

It is hard to sit down and the the price of privacy is so high in the big cities. I have nothing against the establishment, but they should at least provide decent transport for those who were deprived of work opportunities at home. Or maybe they want to prepare us for the worse.

When asked about your current job, it is almost compulsory to say: "it is fine", but I am looking for something better.

The Ernst & Young employees can say, I want to work for Google. But what would a Google employee say? Fortune's list of the best employers has been topped by Google for several consecutive years.

But, why do we all like Google? Probably for the same reason we like Christmas, or weddings. At either event, you are sure to gain something for little effort, which motivates us to participate and contribute towards the collective wealth.

At Christmas, children are asked to decorate the tree and adults are expected to bring their parents handy gifts such as a new baking oven. By offering a helping hand you can make a fortune - tons of cakes and sweets for the children, for example. The same applies to weddings. What do the adults look for at weddings? Maybe we should ask Owen Wilson.