Office Work Experience for Polish National

My colleague's housemate is a Polish national- working here for the past 2 years.

He currently works in a busy cafe/ restaurant and would like to get office work experience and develop a career in that area.

As a starting point, he commenced a year long ECDL part-time course last September and will complete same in May.

Can anyone advise what he should do next? I have suggested to my friend that he calls to local offices and tells them he is interested in 1 day/ week work experience- Is this a potential idea?

I see a lot of junior office vacancies on www.nixers.com www.irishjobs.ie

Any ideas please?

Would he volunteer a couple of hours a week doing admin/updating databases etc? It will get him experience and a reference. You can search under 'office' for opportunities

Yes- he certainly would volunteer- he is usually off 1 or 2 days during the week- i.e. midweek

Tell him to check www.fas.ie or call into one of their branches

Yes he did FAS and all they wanted was for him to register with them- was this just to boost their statistics. They then gave him details of courses in Athlone and Dublin - he lives in mid Kildare and needs a full time job to earn money!

Not exactly the best service- he explained exactly what he wanted and they recommended a full-time course!

I'd advise him to have his CV ready on computer and just apply for suitable vacancies with a covering letter stating details of the course he's doing, and that he speaks fluent English, can type (if so), has a good telephone manner, hard working etc etc. Many companies take on junior office staff with no practical experience and provide training. Small companies especially are willing to give someone a go. I wouldn't advise working for nothing just to get experience when there is a labour shortage.

He should e-mail his CV to every likely vacancy - sooner or later he's bound to get an interview. Good Luck!

Yes he applied for a few junior jobs on the various sites but he wasn't called for interview- maybe theres a glut of similar people looking for entry level posts.

If anyone wants a motivated work placement student for 1 day a week let me know- no pay required!
Areas- Newbridge/ Naas/ West Dublin/ City Centre etc

PM me please