Work experience
A work experience placement is your opportunity to sample a real life working situation where you'll be treated like an adult and given responsibilty for an area of work. A placement can help inform your career choices and, as importantly, it is an opportunity to learn about the workplace and acquire transferable employability skills that you will need in ANY future employment.
Getting the most out of work experience
- Take advantage of any pre-placement contact with the employer – such as the placement interview or an introductory telephone call – to find out about the business and what it does
- Use your placement to find out about the range of jobs in the company – not just the work you are doing
- Ask questions – about the work, about the skills and qualities they want in employees; about the future in that area of work
- Observe how the organisation functions – what makes things run smoothly; how teams work; the importance of communication
- Keep a diary to help you reflect and learn from your experiences.
