No local experience? Turn your internship into evidence employers trust

"Do you have local experience?" It is a short question, and for students who studied elsewhere or have not worked in their field yet, it can feel like a closed door.

Relevant local experience can help students prepare for the transition from graduation to employment. A suitable internship provides exposure to workplace expectations, professional communication and industry practices. The next step is to make that experience visible: something you can show, not only something you did.

What the research says

• The barrier is real. Rochat (2025) [S3] notes that "many international students experience barriers achieving WIL and post-graduation employment expectations."
• Workplace exposure builds more than skills. "Exposure to the workplace can improve a graduate's employability by helping them build professional networks and social, professional, and interpersonal skill sets" (Prakaschandra et al., 2025) [S2].
• Employers use placements to get to know people. "Placements may also provide a useful means for employers to assess the suitability of students as future employees" (Spante et al., 2025) [S5].
• Depth helps. "While WIL can enhance career readiness, prolonged, immersive experiences optimize employment outcomes" (Tshabalala et al., 2025) [S6].
• Reflection turns experience into learning. "Reflection is crucial in WIL curricula, allowing personalized learning" (Sandvoll et al., 2026) [S4].

Experience is the starting point. Evidence and reflection are what make it count in an application.

What good looks like

Strong evidence from an internship usually includes:

• A completed project. Something with a beginning and an end that you can describe clearly.
• Your contribution. What you did yourself, as distinct from what the team did.
• Supervisor feedback. A few sentences from the person who saw your work.
• Permission and care. You only share work you are allowed to share, and you protect confidential information.
• A story. A short account of the problem, your actions and the result, ready for an interview.

How Careers Compass helps

• Experience you can discuss. Careers Compass helps students build experience they can discuss in applications and interviews.
• Evidence, with care. Completed projects and supervisor feedback can provide evidence of their skills, with permission to share any work and appropriate protection of confidential information.
• Examples and feedback. Students can develop examples of their work, receive feedback and explain their contribution more confidently when applying for graduate opportunities.
• A record as you go. Recording progress also helps students prepare for academic reviews and discussions about their development.
• Connected support. During a placement, Careers Compass keeps the student, employer and university connected, with activity and progress in one environment so the people supporting you stay informed.
• Applications in view. Students can track and manage applications submitted via Careers Compass in the DNC Member Portal.

Try this: build a one-page evidence file for each internship

Create one page per internship with these five parts:

1. The context. The organisation's field, the project and your role, in two or three sentences.
2. Your contribution. Three bullet points that start with a verb: designed, analysed, wrote, tested, presented.
3. The skills. The tools you used and the professional skills you practised, such as communication and responding to feedback.
4. The feedback. Near the end of the placement, ask your supervisor whether they could write two or three sentences about your work that you could use in applications.
5. The permission check. Note what you may share, and what must stay confidential. When unsure, ask.

Then write one interview story from each page: situation, task, action, result. Practise saying it aloud in under two minutes.