Gain experience

Job shadowing, internship

Job shadowing is an observation of a specialist's working day (or a certain task) at his / her workplace. Job shadowing provides important practical information about a specific job and its requirements. It is also valuable for building a contact network and assessing whether such a job would be interesting for you.

Make sure to prepare for job shadowing:

• • find a specialist and arrange a possibility to observe their work;
• • collect information about the job, the organisation;
• • think about the questions that you would like to ask.

Internship is a short-term work experience related to career goals, interests and / or field of study. All interns should be supervised by an internship supervisor. Remember that internship can be done both in Lithuania or abroad. More information about internships is here.

Volunteering

Voluntary work is a non-paid, voluntary activity for the benefit of society that can be performed in various organisations. It can be either a short-term or a long-term activity. 

Volunteering in various organisations provides an opportunity to:

•  Gain experience and be visible to employers.

•  Try different activities and decide whether they interest you.

•  Develop skills like collaboration, problem solving, leadership, teamwork, etc.

•  Meet different people and form your own social network.

•  Fulfill interests not covered by your degree program.

Volunteering at VU

Vilnius University provides an opportunity to volunteer at VU departments (e.g., VU Library, Botanical Garden). Also, VU cooperates with Vilnius secondary schools – if you are interested in working with children. VU provides other volunteering opportunities. You can find out more here.

Volunteering outside VU

A large database of non-governmental organisations can be found in the NGO Atlas. There you can select organisations of your interest by applying search filters.

Depending on the organisation you choose, you may need to fill in an application form, send your CV or take part in an interview.

Visit organisations' websites as well as their social media accounts. Even if you do not find information on how to join them, feel free to contact them and tell what interests you in their activities, and what you would like or could contribute to.

Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what benefits you can bring to an organisation, especially if there is not enough information about its activities. In this case, when you contact them you can indicate that it would be interesting for you to meet and learn more about the organisation, and to find out how you could contribute. 

Volunteering abroad 

If you are considering taking a break before going to university or starting master's studies, you can take advantage of volunteer programs for young people. There are also quite a few short-term projects that allow students to volunteer abroad without making a break in their studies (e.g., during summer holidays). You can find a list of organisations offering such opportunities on Youth information and consultation platform "Žinau viską" (in Lithuanian).

Training, conferences, courses

Knowledge and skills useful for future careers can be acquired by participating in various seminars, projects, courses or conferences. It is important, though, not to forget to keep track of where you have participated in the last 5 years. So keep all the certificates whenever you receive them. You can acquire useful skills and knowledge:

• • Science and business cooperation projects. If you are not sure which path to take – science or business – take advantage of the opportunities offered by VU TechHUB. It is a platform for cooperation between students, researchers and businesses or the public sector to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. Here you will find events and projects for students.
• • VU events. The calendar of conferences and other events taking place at Vilnius University can be found here, as well as on the VU Facebook page. 
• • Events in your field of interest. If you want to develop competences in the field you are studying, remember to follow the information on your academic unit's channels - web-page, department's Facebook account. 
• • Learning foreign languages. Vilnius University offers students the opportunity to study a second foreign language as minor studies or as an optional study course unit.
• • Studying a second study program free of charge. If you want to gain knowledge in a field not related to your study program, take a look at minor studies, or take the opportunity to choose some subjects from the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts or the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater.
• • Online courses of universities worldwide. Many worldwide known universities offer their courses remotely on different platforms, for example, Coursera or Udemy. Some of the courses on these platforms are free of charge. 
• • Creating your own business. If you are interested in building your own business, there are a number of training and events on this topic offered by "Inovacijų agentūrą".
• • International projects. AIESEC is one of the organisations that take care of the education of young people by participating in international projects.
• • Tailored search. When you find organisations that work in your area of interest, start tracking their pages on social networks and other channels through which they post information about their events.
• • Developing personal projects. Do not underestimate the work you do in your spare time. If you have helped a friend create a website, created a bike from old parts, organised a trip or a birthday party for your friends – you can also present such activities as your experience. It is important to be able to describe that experience properly, and you can do so using the questions listed in the next section ("Reflect on gained experience").

Useful services