To ask, if you were an employer would you employ me?

[FedupofbeingtoldIcantusemyname]

There's a really good job I'm looking at going for in the future but I won't be able to until I finish my degree next year. The job in question will likely be very competitive with lots of applicants but is based more on personality, life skills and whether you are a good fit with the company than academic qualifications. It would also involve periods of travelling abroad. I do have necessary qualifications and believe I would be the sort of person who would fit well in the company but obviously this is very subjective!

I thought that in the mean time, while I'm waiting to apply for this job, I might use my spare time to do my own personal research 'project' about a subject relevant to the job and try to teach myself the basics of the local language.

Aibu to wonder if, hypothetically, you were my prospective employer, if you would be positively encouraged to employ me if I did this? I want to do it anyway just for my own interest but would it also look good to an employer if I put it on my cv? Or would I look like a weirdo

[Mmmmshop]

Hard to answer without more detail!

Do you have a lot of work experience from before your degree?

[FedupofbeingtoldIcantusemyname]

I have had lots of different types of jobs, not in the same field but lots of transferable skills and some relevant experience too. I just want to try and make myself stand out from the potential crowd and although I could bring up what I'm doing at interview stage (re, learning the language etc) I'm worried that when the job applications open there will be so many applicants I won't get a look in!

[Mmmmshop]

I was going to say that some sort of employment might be a better use of your free time if you didn't have a lot of previous experience.

Honestly as an employer I think I might be confused by the purpose of a research project if you mentioned it on an application.

If you're picking up that they have a strong culture then maybe it would be more helpful to look into that and see if there's anything you can do to demonstrate that you're the right 'fit' as a person?

[FedupofbeingtoldIcantusemyname]

I am employed part time at the moment but in a different field and it will probably be quite difficult to get work experience within the field I want to go into as they are not based anywhere close to me - it's not impossible but would be quite hard. I'm still going to try though!

Good point about the culture though. I'm not quite sure how I'd do it yet but I'll look into it.

[IAmNotACat]

Your 'research' will only count if you can get it published. If this is what you want, I would advise finding a lecturer on campus who has similar interests and asking if you can do an independent study with them and have them coauthor your paper.