Many schools provide students with an opportunity to do either one or two weeks’ work experience during Year 10 or 11. This is a really exciting opportunity for your child and obviously needs planning if they are to get the most from this experience.
1. The first thing your child needs to consider is what they want to gain from their work experience. Do they want to use this as an opportunity to, for example:
- Gain an insight into a particular career that they already have an interest in, such as physiotherapy, journalism or speech and language therapy?
- Give them a better understanding of a particular sector/career to help them decide if they would be suited to this?
- Help them get a ‘foot in the door’ for a weekend job or even a future apprenticeship?
2. Having established what they want to get from their work experience, the next step is to research where they might be able to gain this work experience. It is probably easiest to start by researching online to find the names of local organisations or companies. Remember that they can use contacts you or they already have in these areas – it will obviously be easier if they know someone who works there. Make sure they start their research early! The more competitive places will be organised well in advance.
3. Be aware that a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check is required for individuals aged 16 or over if their work involves regular contact with children or vulnerable adults.
4. Start by making a quick phone call to establish if the company or organisation offers work experience to school students. The last thing they want to do is to invest time and effort if no opportunities are available.
5. If the company or organisation does offer work experience, ask them to outline what your child needs to do next. They will probably want to see a copy of their CV and after that, if they are interested, will arrange a meeting or interview to discuss the opportunity in more detail.
6. If they don’t offer work experience or seem unsure, your child should take this as an opportunity to sell the concept and benefits to them. Remember for the company it is:
- Two weeks’ unpaid work in an unskilled/semi-skilled role. If your child has got some specific skills that they can offer even better. IT, artistic, creative and organisational skills, for example, might be very useful to a small company.
- Excellent PR. I have seen a letter of thanks from a work experience student displayed at my local garage. I was very impressed that they support the community.
7. Health and safety is important and work experience students should be covered by the employers’ existing workplace risk assessments. Do let your child’s school know of your arrangements so that they can undertake any further health and safety checks if necessary.
8. Agree the working arrangements before your child begins. This is particularly important if this is the first time the company has taken on a work experience student. You don’t want to find that your child has been assigned to do the washing up for two weeks! It might be useful to get in touch with the company again about two weeks before the agreed start date to confirm dates and times. This will also act as a reminder to them.
9. Make sure your child keeps some notes about the key things they learn. This is particularly important if they are doing this experience to help decide if they want to go into that area of work. They might also find these notes useful to refer to, if and when they apply for university or other opportunities.
10. Be sure that your child formally thanks the employer at the end of the work experience period. If appropriate they could let them know what they enjoyed and learned from the experience. This might help the employer when taking on other students in the future and may be useful for your child if they need a reference.
© Jill Valentine
- 10 Top tips to find meaningful work experience - 7th February 2024