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Work Experience
A friend of mine thinks she would like to be a teacher,
but the amount of training involved to get qualified
is daunting. And what if it ends up not being the right
career choice? It is a huge investment in terms of both
time and money. So how can she be sure it is the right
thing for her, that she's not just looking at teaching
because having school holidays at home would be very
convenient?
Try some work experience. It is a standard approach
for students in their final years at school and a lot
of organisations are very willing to take on a work
experience student for a week or more. Ok, so we're
a bit older than the average work experience student,
but a certain level of maturity can only be advantageous
for an organisation, and they're going to be pretty
sure you want to be there, not that you're there because
the school expects you to be.
So how do you go about organising work
experience?
Simply approach an organisation you are interested
in and explain the situation to them. If you are lucky,
you might know someone already in that industry and
have a contact you can go through.
- I am interested in working in (IT, finance, teaching,
aromatherapy, personal training etc...) and I wondered
if there was any possibility of some work experience.
It would be really useful to help me decide whether
it is the right path for me before I commit to the training.
Worst case scenario - they say no, and you try again
somewhere else.
Schools and pre-schools regularly look for parental
involvement, so an extra pair of hands is always useful.
You may need to put a brief resume together or put your
request in writing, and for some jobs, especially those
involving children, the organisation might require a
police check. They are usually used to doing these and
will know the procedure to follow.
The other thing that may be required is indemnity cover
in the case of a work related accident. The HR department
of an organisation should know about these requirements
and whether they are covered. They may require you to
organise and pay for your own indemnity cover prior
to starting work experience.
What about the kids?
A full week in an organisation is probably just not
practical. Who's going to look after the kids?? Be honest
with the organisation and ask for what you want. e.g.
I wondered if I could come into your organisation once
a week for 6 hours over the next two months.
Make it a big enough commitment. An hour or two might
give you an overview of an organisation, but it won't
give you the full experience of working there.
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