Can a work placement support your career ambitions?
Most pupils in yr11 have the chance to gain a work placement in an industry of their choice. The idea here is that a 2-week work placement is enough time to gain an insight into a specific job role. The pupils can use this experience to help them decide if their desired career path is a suitable choice.
In many schools a career lead has the responsibility of organising the work placement for the full year group. This means finding around 100 employers willing to take on 2-3 pupils for a two-week period. Pupils are matched to employers based on the pupil’s career ambitions.
During the 2-week work placement the pupil will undertake a range of duties to help them understand how a business works. Each employer will match each pupil with a mentor (an experienced member of staff who can explain the different areas of the business.) At the end of each week the employer will complete a review, allowing the pupil to reflect on their career choice.
When I undertook my work placement, my career goal was to work in retail management. The school career lead, very excitedly, explained that she had found me the ‘perfect’ placement; a retail assistant in a mini market. Originally, I was excited to undertake the work placement. I wanted to learn about retail management and starting in a small mini market would allow me to see all sides of a retail business.
Instead of learning retail managerial techniques I was tasked to take out the rubbish, make cups of tea for the full-time staff members and to clean shelves and mop floors. The mundane duties meant that the work placement was having a negative effect on my motivation to gain a career in retail management.
A couple of days into the work placement I was shopping with my family in a large supermarket. I was observing one of the floor managers directing a team of employees to create a new display. When the manager saw me watching them, he asked me: “is there was anything I can help you with?” I explained that I was hoping to work in retail management one day and that I was currently in a work placement in a mini market completing mundane duties. As I was about to leave, I asked if he would be willing to let me finish my work placement within his store, allowing me to learn retail management skills. To my surprise he agreed, and I spent the next 10 days understanding the supply chain line, sales psychology, rotating stock and how to create a reliable and motivated workforce.
The work placement that yr11 pupils can access can either be highly beneficial or a complete waste of time. To get the most out of a work placement I would highly recommend sourcing your own employer. Teachers do I good job at organising a large amount of work placements, but they don’t have the time to discuss individual pupil needs with every employer. By sourcing your own work placement, you can meet with an employer and discuss what it is you want to gain from the two-week placement.
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