The currently saturated job market means fresh graduates are not only competing with others leaving university this summer but with previous graduates with one year’s experience under their belts.

As graduates find themselves trapped in this ‘need experience to get a job, need a job to get experience’ vicious circle; it has become increasingly vital for them to acquire meaningful work experience.

Inspiring Interns Communications Director Andrew Scherer, who began his working life as an intern for Inspiring and is the author of Brilliant Intern, believes that internships are the perfect model to get graduates into meaningful work.

“Graduates are finding that they simply cannot compete in the current jobs market without experience, irrespective of the academic results they’ve achieved or the university they’ve attended. An internship gives them the chance to learn practical skills which will impress potential employers, as well as make useful industry contacts and even earn themselves full-time work.”

­­Inspiring Intern Alex Kenzie works as an Analytics Intern for one of the UK’s fastest growing media agencies. He had this to say about life after graduation and his internship experience:

“After graduating from university I went travelling for 6 months. On returning from my travels I worked part-time for 5 months at Hotel Chocolat. I used this time to start applying on and off for jobs but had no idea what I wanted to do.

I have learnt a lot during my time at the company and feel this opportunity has helped me realise my career path. I have had the opportunity to work with some high-profile clients use and apply a variety of different programmes which will be valuable when applying for jobs in the future.”

There are jobs available for almost everything you can think of so we have complied a list of the most bizarre jobs that are proof that even the strangest skill is useful to someone.

You may even discover your perfect career path which you didn’t know existed!

1. Golf ball diver

Have you ever wondered what happened to the golf balls that get accidentally knocked into the water? It is the job of golf ball divers to wade in and gather as many of the lost balls as they can. It is well-paid but can be extremely dangerous: there have been two recorded deaths on the job.

2. Professional sleeper

Yes, you can actually be paid to sleep on the job. This type of career usually involves partaking in sleep research projects at hospitals and universities. One really bizarre job advert for The New Museum of Contemporary Art required women willing zonk out during the museum’s opening hours and become a living museum exhibition.

3. Fortune cookie writer

Donald Lau is the vice-president of Wonton Food, Inc. and writes the fortunes inside the cookies. After struggling from writers block and having to recycle material Lau put out a job advert for a new fortune writer in 2005 (a job that is few and far between).

4. Dice inspector

The tiniest imperfection in a dice can skew the odds and cause it to land on one side more than others. The role of a dice inspector is to ensure quality control by carefully examining the dice for blemishes, incorrect proportions and angles that are slightly off.

5. Bed warmer

Certain hotels actually have employees that wear special thermal suits and lay in the beds before you arrive to get them warm and toasty. Creepy or what?

6. Snake ‘milker’

The role of a snake milker involves capturing poisonous snakes, extracting their venom, and releasing the snakes back into their natural environment. The snake venom is sold and made into anti-venom which is used to treat deadly snake bites. So if you love the thrill of adventure and want to help people, then this might be the right career for you!

7. Gross stunt tester

Shows like I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and Fear Factor put their contestants through gross and sometimes dangerous trials. It is the role of gross stunt testers to prepare and try out the challenges to make sure it’s safe and to avoid lawsuits. Let’s hope the salary is worth it!

8. Body part model

Gemma's hand masquerading as Lily Cole's hand

When people think of a model they wouldn’t instantly think of someone who just models their beautiful hands or attractive feet but that is exactly what a body part model does. Body models can make a lot of money modelling things such as watches, hand cream and shoes. Hand model Gemma Howorth insures her prize assets for an astonishing £5million. A normal photo-shoot earns her an average of £100 an hour, but she can command up to £2,500 a day as a ‘hand double’ for celebrities.

9. Barnyard masturbator

The role of the barnyard masturbator is to masturbate farmyard animals for artificial insemination to help breeding. Somebody has to do it!

10. Sex toy tester

Yes, this job does exist and it pays pretty well. Nat Garvey, a sex toy tester from Cornwall, describes her role as the ‘perfect job’. Garvey is paid £25,000 a year by an online sex shop to test out all of their latest products to see which ones work the best. With global sex toy sales expected to go up by 700% over the next decade this type of job could become more common.

If you want to get your hands on your very own Inspiring t-shirt then become an Inspiring brand ambassador. Visit our website or get in touch by emailing alex@inspiringinterns.com for more details.

Do you feel like there isn’t enough time in the morning and find yourself struggling to get up or into work mode? We know that feeling.

Try out our tips on waking up, getting energised, and getting things done in the early hours:

1. Prepare for work the night before. Set out your clothes and shoes and pack anything you’re bound to forget into your bag. You should also check your calendar for events and reminders to avoid any nasty shocks. Don’t leave dishes in the sink overnight as this will make going into the kitchen in the morning an unpleasant and unwelcoming experience.
2. Get a good night sleep. To achieve a successful snooze avoid the stimulant-sedative cycle of coffee to wake you up in the morning and alcohol to help you sleep at night. Create a perfect sleeping environment in your bedroom by ensuring it is cool, dark, quiet and uncluttered. This can be achieved by thick curtains or eye mask, the use of ear plugs and removal of TVs and computers. Top tip: have a hot bath before bed as the cooling process releases the sleep hormone melatonin.
3. Have a good wakeup call. Waking up badly can be very damaging to your day. According to Margo, the author of The Good Sleep Guide it is important to wake up in the right point of your sleep cycle. There are apps available that monitor your movement and wake you up during a light period of sleep.
4. Exercise. Cranking out a few push-ups first thing in the morning tells your body it’s time to get up and do something. Exercise, whatever it is and however small gives you that ‘can-do’ smug feeling. It vitalises and gives you a sense of energy to make you feel more productive and de-stressed.
5. Eat well. Remember breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is best to eat within an hour of waking to switch on your metabolism and replenish and rehydrate your body. If you don’t eat breakfast it can make you moody, tired and restless leading to decreased concentration and productivity. Top tip: eat foods with slow release energy and protein. The best breakfasts are filling and balanced e.g. two poached eggs with rye bread and grilled tomatoes or natural yoghurt with berries and seeds.
6. Use energising and multitasking grooming products. Your morning shower should be an enjoyable part of your wake-up routine. Consider using energising products containing invigorating ingredients such as menthol to stimulate the senses. Use multitasking products such as a face cleanser and shaving foam all in one.
7. Relax on your commute. Use your commute to catch up on news or read a book. Try and let your mind drift to help you relax and energise. Check out our blog on how to use your work commute effectively for more tips.

So there you have it! Follow these tips to upgrade your pre-work routine and hit the ground running in the mornings!

Want to get your hands on an Inspiring t-shirt? Keep an eye on Inspiring Interns on Facebook and Twitter for special competitions, or visit our website to apply to be a brand ambassador.

With the developments in technology it is becoming more and more efficient to work from home. Over 25% of the UK workforce “sometimes” works at home. But the number of people working “mainly” at home is 2.5% or 681,000 of the workforce (http://www.flexibility.co.uk/index.htm). Peter Thomson who works for Telework Association believes; “Virtually anything that used to be an office job and uses computers and telecoms can be done remotely for at least part of the week.”

Have you ever thought about a work from home career?

Check out the advantages and disadvantages of working from home below:

Advantages:

• There is no commute. This means you will gain more time to work and cut down travel costs to literally zero.
• Learn self-discipline and the ability to manage your own work-load.
• Freedom to control your own environment e.g. the level of noise, temperature.
• Avoid interruption and disruption that working in an office with colleagues can give you.
• Freedom to manage your own time and flexibility.

Disadvantages:

• Easy to get distracted and find other things to do such as; household chores.
• Don’t have people at hand to ask questions or bounce ideas off of.
• There is a social pressure in an office environment to get tasks done. At home it is you that has to motivate yourself.
• You can feel isolated with a lack of people contact.

Tips for working from home:

• Pick an area in your home that can be classed as your ‘work area’. This will help you mentally prepare for working.
• Create a routine as if going to work by getting up at the same time every morning and preparing for work e.g. getting dressed and washed and having breakfast before you start working. Creating a structure when working from home can be a lot more challenging than having certain times to abide by e.g. train times, what time the boss expects you in etc.
• Task lists become more important than ever to keep you organised and motivated.
• Get social contact. Working from home can be isolating so ensure you organise to meet friends on a regular basis. Try and organise activities outside of your house to get a change of scenery.
• Get physical exercise. As you won’t be leaving your house to walk to work or walk to public transport it is important to seek exercise in other ways.

If you want an alternative to the isolation of working from home a co-working space could be the answer. Co-working spaces such as; Matthews Yard in Croydon offer the appeal of working from home with a progressive workspace, blended with a casual cafe like feel, while still offering all of the important things you need to work including; high-speed internet, phones, conference rooms etc. Co-working could also offer a great opportunity to network, create contacts and collaborate with others.

If you are in the midst of a graduate job search, you may be sending out a dozen or more CVs a day, be setting up interviews, calling back on leads, and making countless versions of your CV and cover letter.

A formal system to track all this can prevent you from forgetting tasks like sending e-mails and making phone calls, and can help you feel more organised and less stressed.

I recommend the following tools to help you make sense of the chaos of so many applications, and to stay organised with as little effort as possible. Each is free and available on Macs, PCs, iOS and Android.

Evernote

On the surface, Evernote is a fairly simple program. You make notes, and refer back to them. However, with a bit of ingenuity, you can use it to keep track of all your job search tasks, or at the very least hang on to important notes.

Use it any of the following ways:

• Take notes during phone interviews. This works best when you’re sitting before a desktop computer with a keyboard.
• Save links to great “how-to” articles and career resources.
• Take notes at any lecture or event you attend related to the job search.
• Record phone numbers and other contact information (that you may not want to overwhelm your personal address book).

Another idea: create a separate Evernote note for each job you’re interested in. Include a link to the job posting, the text of the posting, contact information for that job, and a to-do list to track your progress. You can furthermore add tags such as “To Apply,” “Application Sent,” “In Progress,” and “Inactive.”

Wunderlist

While I suggested using Evernote for keeping track of applications and projects, you can also consider a fully-fledged task manager app.

Unlike Evernote, an app like Wunderlist will actively inform you when tasks are due. Plus, it’s easier to see what tasks you have on your plate at any given time, and to keep a “Someday/Maybe” list for those wild ideas that strike you. (For more in-depth tips on organising your tasks, look into “Getting Things Done”).

And if you need a record of your job search activity (such as for receiving unemployment benefits, or double-checking whether you filled out a particular online form), you can refer back to Wunderlist.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a fantastic online storage service that is extremely easy to set up and use. It acts like a normal folder on your Mac or PC, but it quietly uploads files online.

With Dropbox, you can begin working on a cover letter on your home PC, make a few changes on your smartphone while you’re riding the underground, and finalise the document using your laptop at a café. It’s seamless and easy, and is ideal for those with super-fast 4G phones.

I recommend keeping all of your job search files in Dropbox, and considering an app like QuickOffice Pro (paid) to access and edit your files on an iPhone or Android phone.

Ashlee McCullen is a staff writer for ApronAddicts.com, a site about fashionable aprons and kitchen style.

The apparently encouraging drop in youth unemployment, down 9,000 to 1.03 million, actually represents an increase in economically inactive 16-24 year olds (e.g. those in education not looking for work). Conversely the number of young people in work now stands at 3.63 million, down 13,000. Commenting on today’s figures, leading graduate internship provider Inspiring Interns believes that this drop clearly demonstrates the jobs issue still remains.

Employers are put off employing young people because of a lack of experience and the perceived risk associated with such a hire. Author of Brilliant Intern and Inspiring Interns Communications Director, Andrew Scherer, believes internships are the ideal model to bridge this gap, allowing graduates to develop skills and valuable work experience while de-risking the proposition for employers;

“We know from extensive experience that well-run internships are a solution to the graduate unemployment crisis. 65% of interns placed by Inspiring Interns go on to permanent paid roles. A good internship will provide mentoring and teaching so that, on completion of the placement, the intern can become a valued and informed employee. There should always be scope for paid employment after the internship period providing the intern has met the expectations of their employers.”

Inspiring Intern Rob Mayo, an English Language and Literature graduate who had faced a host of rejections because of a lack of relevant experience, gained a marketing internship with an online tech start-up through Inspiring Interns. Rob has since been taken on by his host company and had this to say about his internship experience;

“It seems pretty much impossible to get a job without industry-specific experience, which makes life incredibly difficult for graduates who haven’t done a vocational degree. I’d probably still be searching if I hadn’t contacted Inspiring.”

Since being founded in 2009, London’s leading internship provider has placed over 1,500 graduates into internships with SMEs that have offered real hands-on experience, 65% of whom secured full-time work with their host company.