Gain work experience

Nothing teaches like experience. And every employer wants you to have it. Which can be difficult when you've been a student all your life.

That's why we encourage you to get some work experience.

Classroom theory is essential, but sometimes it’s the lessons learned outside the classroom that educate us the most. Employers expect you to behave in a certain way, and have commercial and practical boundaries you need to understand. Work experience will help you to round out the theory with experience.

Through work experience, you will develop the soft skills vital to success - the ability to communicate well, negotiate, think strategically, solve problems and influence others. These skills feed back into your study. You will begin to think about how to apply what you know to workplace situations, and vice versa.

You'll also build contacts, enhance your employment prospects and potentially earn more when you graduate.

Of course many professional courses embed compulsory practical experience. These include medicine, nursing, emergency health (paramedic), teaching, and pharmacy.

Many other courses will have optional programs. Ask your faculty what opportunities are available. Some examples include:

• Faculty of Business and Economics work integrated learning programs
• Faculty of Engineering industry training program
• Faculty of Information Technology industry based learning program
• Faculty of Law internships
• Monash Sustainability Institute internships
• Gippsland campus industry placement program