Please find below all the information you need in order to arrange your work experience.

Why is work experience important?

You might think that the only point of doing work experience is for CV fodder. You probably think you’ll just sit there twiddling your thumbs, or be given a stack of 2,000 envelopes to stuff, stamp and send. Although some work experience does involve doing menial tasks, it can still be very important.

Some work experience placements might even give you the opportunity to take on some really interesting and challenging responsibilities. However, if you still need convincing, here are the top ten top ten reasons why you should do work experience:

• Young people are more likely to be successful in their job hunt if they have done some good work experience. Fact. Over half of the graduate recruiters that took part in a recent research study by Highfliers said that, “graduates who have had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their organisations’ graduate programmes.”
• If you haven’t got a clue what career you want to do, work experience is a perfect way to sample all the career options out there. It’s a way of exploring different jobs without actually committing to anything. You can dip your toe in the water without taking the full plunge.
• It’s the best way to get a real sense of your chosen industry. You’ll get to speak to employees and ask them questions. You won’t know what it’s like until you get closer to the action.
• Doing work experience shows passion and interest. Evidence that you have done work experience shows the employer that you are motivated to get into a chosen career and that you’ve done your homework.
• If you have no idea what you are interested in, work experience in a few different areas can help you decide what you like and don’t like and you could find something you’re really passionate about. If you don’t try anything new, you will never know what’s out there.
• Work experience gently introduces you to the world of work. You get to learn the dos and don’ts, get work place savvy and learn to navigate your way through the jungle of office politics. Vitally, it will give you an idea of the skills you might need to thrive in the workplace.
• It will help you identify your own skills and perhaps even highlight the areas that you might want to work on and give you a good understanding of your strengths and weakness.
• You might wow them so much that you’ll be offered a job!
• It’s all about networking. It’s so important to build contacts to help you in the future and the more people you speak to, the more you’ll learn about different roles. Contacts are vital when starting out in the world of work and who you know really does make a difference.
• And yes, work experience does give you something meaningful to put on your CV!

Work experience student manual

Student work experience record

Parents’ guide to work experience