News from the Careers Office

WORK EXPERIENCE

Year 10 Work Experience program

During the last week of Term Three, approximately 110 Year 10 students left the confines of the classroom to experience a week of interaction with the real world, through the College’s work experience program. We would like to offer our thanks to those organisations in our community who were able to assist by providing placements, and to families who supported their children in this important endeavour.

Students worked in a diverse array of settings, including childcare, manufacturing, construction, health, hairdressing, office administration and fitness centres. A large number of students chose a placement in a retail setting and a handful went back to their old primary schools in order to experience education from the other side.

The aim of the work experience program is not just to get a taste of what it might be like to work in their intended future pathway. Strict privacy and OHS laws (and competition for placements) mean that many students are not able to “try out” their intended future career. But the value of work experience is also found through everyday basics, like an 8 hour working day, a 6.30am start, needing to be on time, needing to operate as part of a team and to follow instructions – and for those in retail – needing to be able to stand up all day!

This year’s program was a great success, with a number of students gaining part time jobs or work placement for Intermediate VCAL. More importantly, students gained a better understanding of the skills they need to operate effectively in the workplace, and some realised how important it is for them to stay at school and achieve the best possible results in order to access further education.

Comments from students included:

“I’ve really enjoyed being able to work with customers.” - retail

“It’s exhausting and my feet hurt!” - hospitality

“It’s been a challenge and I didn’t think I could do it at first, but as the week went on, I’ve been able to do more tasks and the boss said he is really happy with me.” – office

“The kids were so much fun.” – education

“I got to talk to the other people here about what they did at Uni and it has helped me decide.” – engineering

“We were demolishing a $16 million house in Toorak – wow!” – construction

“I don’t think I actually want to work in this area any more. It’s just the same thing over and over.” – fashion retail