Work Experience
Work Experience
Work experience is the short term placement with employers, to provide insights into the industry and the work place in which they are located. Students are placed with employers primarily to observe and learn – not to undertake activities which require extensive training or experience.
What Now?
Step 1. Work out what employment area most interests you
You might reflect on work careers work completed so far, browse careers on the careers website or test out a childhood dream to see if it really interests and suits you.
Step 2. Find out where you could do that kind of work
Do some research to find organisations and businesses that related to the jobs you're interested in. Start with an online search. You could also do a search on a jobseeker website for that kind of job, and then try approaching the businesses that advertise those jobs. They may also offer work experience placements. If you can't find the kind of work you're looking for anywhere nearby, expand the range of your search if you can.
Step 3. Use your networks (your allies)
Talk to people you know. They might know places where you can do work experience. People you could talk to include family, friends and industry contacts.
Step 4. Make a list of contacts
Make a list of the names and contact details for the businesses and organisations you find out about. You may need to do some research to track them all down.
Step 5. Contact the names on your list
Get in touch with the businesses on your list. If the organisation is a large one, visit their website to see if they have any information about work experience or student placements. If they do, make sure you follow any instructions they provide. If you can't find any information online about a company or business's work experience programs, contact them directly.
Step 6. Write an application
Once you've found someone to offer you work experience, you may have to send a formal application. For tips on writing job applications, check out the links at the end of the document.
STEP 7. DON'T GIVE UP!
If you work through your list and you haven't found any work experience, don't give up. Finding any kind of job is hard. You may need to broaden your approach. Try thinking about other jobs you might be interested in or other companies in areas you haven't looked at yet. Once you have a new list of organisations you can work through the above steps again.Step 7. Don't give up
Some common myths
Work Experience is a waste of time.
Absolutely not. It provides experience to add to your resume, learning what a job is really like, it can give you a reference to use on future job applications and adds to your network of contacts that could help you find paid work, but you MUST APPLY EARLY to ensure a meaningful placement.
I know people who did work experience and didn’t get anything out of it.
Work Experience can also be useful to determine what you DON’T want to pursue. There are common characteristics of many positions eg. working outdoors, repetitive tasks, working with children that can be either counted in or out of any future plans upon reflection of the Work Experience week. If someone says they didn’t get anything out of it, they probably didn’t reflect on the experience in its entirety.
Parents - how you can help.
-Support your child to prepare for the future world of work by helping them to develop skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours to manage their own career.Understand their career journey (which has already started) and continues throughout their life.
-Have career conversations that don’t focus on ‘What do you want to do when you finish school?’ but focus more on ‘What are you good at?’ and ‘What do you enjoy and why?’
-Help them to make informed decisions about their career options.
-Help them to develop the career they want, to feel more confident and to build their own support network. This includes encouragement and support as they organise their Work Experience.
More really useful information can be found on the Youth Central website here