Finding junior work experiences you are stoked about

If you're anything like me, you find it excruciatingly painful to commit to something you are not excited about.

And while I believe you can make many things interesting if you dig deep enough, I rarely came across an internship or a junior job posting that genuinely excited me. Because of that, I dreaded looking for them and couldn't envision a reality where I did something I wasn't enthusiastic about.

I would apply nonetheless because I needed some experience, but it felt inauthentic. I think my lack of excitement showed very clearly because I wasn't invited to the interviews - which was maybe for the best. 

I continued with this approach for a while, but since it wasn't bringing results and left me feeling depleted and discouraged, I took on a different strategy. Instead of looking for stuff and trying to find something I thought was cool, I started from what I thought was cool and created new opportunities.

And this is what we will cover in this article: three ways of gaining work experience while having a good time.

1) Small companies and startups

The first one is finding companies you are excited about and reaching out to them, irrespective of whether they have vacancies or not.

In this way, you are not only making sure that you are targeting places you genuinely believe in but are also minimising your competition because people won't apply for jobs that don't exist.

Let me tell you about how this played out for me.

When I was studying nutrition, I wanted to get into personalised nutrition really badly - after all, it was why I started a nutrition degree in the first place.

I came across a personalised nutrition startup - ZOE - which developed a personalised nutrition product based on the largest nutrition study in the world, led in collaboration with Harvard and other impressive unis. I was sold.

They had a few vacancies open, but each had more than 500 applicants. Since my chances were slim, I looked up a couple of people on LinkedIn and dropped them a message explaining why I was dying to work for them (which was 100% honest, by the way) and offering to work for free. One didn't respond; one directed me to their official recruitment website, but one introduced me directly to the nutrition team manager.

Fast forward, instead of getting a volunteering and unpaid position, I got a job - which was not only super helpful in making ends meet as a grad student, but also I was working for a company whose mission couldn't be closer to my heart. Of course, I still had to go through the recruitment process and have a strong profile to be invited to the interview, but bypassing the 500 applicants was undoubtedly helpful.

But back to you. If you'd like to try it out for yourself, this is what I would do:

1) List companies you are excited about - keep it to smaller-sized companies for obvious reasons: larger companies, particularly non-entrepreneurial ones, will have stricter internal processes. On top of this, let's be honest: you are much less likely to be genuinely stoked about a stable corporation than a revolutionary and dynamic startup.

2) Check their openings and apply if you think the chances of getting accepted are reasonable. On top of this, I would also reach out to people on LinkedIn because they might help you find a third door if the front is closed.

When reaching out, target people with something in common with you - university, prior experience, similar situation. You can read more about how to do this in this article, steps 6 and 7.

3) Drop them a personalised, genuine message explaining why you want to work for them.

I would not ask them if there is a job vacancy or an internship because that implies they would either have to pay you or need to plan an internship program just for you, which is unlikely. Instead, offer to help for free. I understand this isn't for everyone, but if you can work a couple of hours per week for free, I think this would be a great option.

I would also list your skills that could be relevant so they immediately know where they could place you within their organisation.

2) Research organisations

The second option is creating a research placement for yourself.

Some universities may require a research placement as part of your degree, or you might want to do one to enhance your experiences before applying for a master's, PhD or a job. You could probably check with your profs whether there are openings they are aware of in their labs or the labs of their colleagues. Universities also often have a repository of internships you could apply to.

The problem with this approach is that you are either limited to the social circle of your professors or, in the latter case, multiple applicants will probably be competing with you.

So here's an alternative that helped me land three internships - one in epigenetic research, one in neuroscience and third related to gut microbiota and metabolism.

1) Check out your university research departments or go beyond and expand your search to other unis or maybe even other countries.

2) Find the ones you are excited about and note down the researchers leading each group you are interested in.

3) Since you can easily find their email addresses on the university's website, I would email them, again offering to work for free and explaining what you can offer. Make sure to read through their papers before you reach out and make personalised connections between what you have done previously, what they are doing and how that links to your plans.

When I tried this method, I was surprised by how often people reply and are willing to chat. It makes sense, though - someone is taking the effort to read through their work, make intelligible connections with their own experience and is excited to help for free for a couple of months in exchange for some learning - that's a pretty good deal.

3) Creating your own experiences

The third and my favourite way of gaining experience is creating something yourself.

While the previous options are great, you will still be constrained by your manager's plans for you. It is also quite unlikely that you will land a role requiring a lot of responsibility from the start because companies or research institutes will want to assess your skills first. Although it has some benefits, it might mean you won't initially gain management and leadership experience, which might be helpful in future job applications.

Getting something started on your own is an entirely different ballgame. You own the whole thing from start to finish. Even if it's as simple as launching a new university society or selling dinners to your peers, you will develop a very different skill set than when working in a controllable environment of a larger organisation.

You plan, decide, manage, organise, negotiate, delegate, create and are accountable for the outcome. This is so much more exciting than executing what you've been told. There are no gatekeepers, and it will nicely complement the skills you gain elsewhere. 

The bottom line, starting something from scratch is a no-brainer when building up your, so to speak, experience portfolio.

Conclusion

Wrapping up, you can most definitely go the traditional route, search through endless internship or entry-level job postings and possibly experience what I had experienced when I stuck to this approach. Who knows, maybe this is what you prefer.

Or, alternatively, if you resonate with my experience, I dare you to take things into your own hands and create opportunities that weren't there before - I bet you'd be positively surprised by the outcomes.

If you try it, let me know how it went.