It is a great idea to gain some insight into the world of work while you are still at school so you can pick subjects for your timetable that will help you to access your chosen career through an apprenticeship, college or uni.

There are 2 types of Work Experience these days and you can achieve a Level 5 (Nat5) qualification if you complete some units from The Prince’s Trust PDE Award alongside your Work Experience  

• Face to Face which is the traditional, in person way where you ask a family member, friend or neighbour, who works in an area that you think you would like to try, whether they might let you shadow them at work. If you do this after school or during the wekends or holidays you can just organise it yourself.

If you need to use school time to experience work as part of a flexible package or to support your personal statement then you need to make sure the employer has Employers Liability Insurance and the council Work Placement and Health & Safety Assessor, Lorraine Hamilton will pop out and check with the employer that everything is ok. To set this up you just need to get the employer to fill in this form Work Placement Provider and Placement Details 24/25 online or print and send the form below if that is easier for them.

How to get Work Experience

The best way is to approach local businesses.  See if there are any friends or family who are in a job that inteests you or if there are vans or adverts for businesses, that might interest you, in your street or if you can see any as you ride the school bus home. 

Falirk Council also have an application process for work experience opportunities in 

Administration, Childcare/Early Years, Environmental Services/Planning, Social Work, and more roles not listed, if you ask. click here

You just need to practice a wee script of what you are going to say to the employer, to aid your confidence in speaking to someone you don't really know.  Let them know how keen you are on working with them for some experience and make sure you say why you are interested and that you plan to try this as a future career. Take a CV with you so you can leave them with some information about you. There are links to help you with CVs in the Jobs tab/page above.  There is no definitive list of employers, pupils need to approach an employer they might like to work with. Just pop in a search on your internet browser. 

 

• Virtual which is where you engage with an employer online. These work experience opportunities can take many forms and last anything from an hour to a week. Sometimes you listen to a talk about an industry and sometimes you work in a virtual team and problem solve or complete online learning modules to end up with a certificate to prove you completed all the work experience tasks.

These links will take you to websites that gather virtual opportunities together. You need to do a bit of searching and sometimes a teacher needs to register you but these opportunities can lead to employment and certainly add to your personal statement or cover letter.

Digital Careers IT, Tech, Software, Hardware, Media work experience opportunities  

Speakers 4 Schools Experience  A huge list of employers, from BalfourBeatty to Virgin Money. Check it out. 

Speakers 4 Schools Pupil Sign Up

SpringPod Virtual Work Experience   From work experience to university course taster experiences, the Springpod platform is the destination for young people to explore, interact and learn about the world of work and university before they apply.

Marketplace from My WoW where employers list their offers to schools. Find an opportunity and ask Mrs Lee to book it.

Google Virtual Work Experience And see how many opportunities appear. Everything from Film and TV to Medicine to Law to Construction to Beauty.....

Whatever form your work experience takes it all helps you to decide what you might and, more importantly, what you might not, like to do in the future. 

Any questions? Email Mrs Lee