During your time at school you are offered an opportunity to take on one week of work experience to give you an idea of what different working environments are like and what certain jobs involve. Work experience is an important part of your education and the vast majority of employers and young people recognise the benefits gained from well-organised programmes. Whether you’re at school or not, here are some reasons to go for it….
Speak to the people in the know
Whether you are going to work in a kitchen with a chef, go into an office with a lawyer or out in the field with a farmer, try to make the most of your time there. Yes you’re there to do a job, but you’ll also be spending time with experts who will have years of expertise and knowledge that they can share with you. Ask them how they came to be in the role they are in now and what advice they would give to someone starting out who aspires to follow a similar career. The employment culture may have changed significantly since ‘their time’ but that doesn’t matter – any wise words will help you further understand the sector and get a head start in planning your next move.
Get a feel for the environment
It’s always exciting being in a new place, and getting involved in work experience means you can take in new sights and sounds (and maybe even smells) of a professional working environment. Don’t panic if you don’t enjoy your first day, a whole day of new people and new instructions can be completely overwhelming. By day three you’ll no longer be a complete beginner and will start to get into the swing of things. You might get health, food and safety briefs as well as guidelines on how to behave if certain situations arise. By the end of the week you should have a good idea of whether you could see yourself starting a career in that profession, based on a week in a typical work environment of the sector. If you hated every moment, at least you can cross it off your list, knowing full well what it involves! You don’t know if you don’t try.
Test your assertiveness
One common problem with people going in to work experience placements is that their presence is not properly accounted for or even ignored completely. You might find yourself simply running errands or making cups of tea, which isn’t why you’re there at all. To avoid this situation, ahead of your placement you should ask the member of management to outline exactly what your daily tasks will be. That way, you can assess whether the post is really suitable for you and refer to it if you end up doing activities which are unsuitable or irrelevant to the experience you set out to gain.
Discover something new
Maybe you didn’t get your first choices for work experience week and have ended up with something completely random and off the wall. Give it a chance – you might surprise yourself. Everyone knows what they like but they don’t know everything they could be good at. Test-driving an occupation could be the revelation of a lifetime for you – what if you discover a new skill or quality by excelling at something you had never even considered! If you’re struggling to decide what to do with your life in general, employers everywhere are always happy to let you try out their profession. Don’t expect to get paid, but experience is invaluable for your personal and professional development. If in doubt, give it a go.
Enhance your CV
Some skills cannot be learned in a classroom which means some occupations require a commitment from individuals to learn on the job, often for free. Dedicating time to learning a specific craft shows your commitment and will give you sector-specific knowledge which will really make you stand out from the crowd in your CV – and in interviews. You will be able to use examples of times you have faced situations which are specific to the role and explain your justification and evaluation accordingly, based on your experience. Having extra experience gives you that extra edge against other candidates, showing you are prepared to go the extra mile to achieve your goal.
