This Youth Employment Week, we're helping raise awareness of how we can all support young people to find the right career path for them. Work experience is a great way to grow your career and connections, and find out if your idea of a career path matches with the reality. We recently welcomed students Hope and Mimi for a week’s placement with us – and here’s what they had to say….
Hope’s Work Experience
“This week I have been doing work experience with Career Connect, in a marketing and content creation role. I have been assigned tasks to help the charity improve their websites from a young person’s perspective, and to make some content that the charity can use in schools to promote career services, such as a career interviews/meetings.
“When I first thought about doing work experience in an office environment, I was nervous at first, as an office is a very sociable working environment where everyone works together as a community. However, on my first day I was surprised to be in a comfortable, peaceful working environment where everyone just gets on with their own work whilst still being a kind, smiling face that welcomes you in.
“On the other hand, I was very excited about work experience at the same time, because I want to go into the media industry in the future with content creation and marketing. So, when I found out that I was doing marketing and content creation I was thrilled, as this is an interest of mine that I am very passionate about. I had the chance to show off the skills I have learnt from A level media in the work that I have created.
Putting creative skills into practice
“One of my favourite tasks was creating a career meeting leaflet. This gave me an opportunity to use the software Canva, and I got to have creative control.
“Another task that I really enjoyed was a PowerPoint research task. I got to choose the job/career to research and I chose the sports media industry because it is the career pathway I want to go into the future – specifically within women’s football, as I believe they deserve more media content and recognition in the media industry.
Meeting people in your field
“The reason I really enjoyed this task, was because it opened my eyes to all the different jobs I can get in the sports media industry, especially when I had a chat with Andrea Young who works at Career Connect and used to work in football. She told me all about the different jobs I can get in the media industry and her experience working in women’s football, which was really inspirational and gave more guidance into what I can do in my future.
“Overall, my experience during work experience has been very enjoyable. I have met a wide range of staff in Career Connect that have been welcoming, kind and respectful whilst showing me their job roles and how they help the wider community which is extremely inspirational to me. This work experience is one I will never forget.”
Mimi’s Work Experience
“Hello, my name is Mimi, I’m 17 and I’ve just completed a week’s work experience with the Research and Evaluation team at Career Connect.
“I think work experience is highly valuable for people in my age range, as it gives you a glimpse into what your future in work may look like, allowing you to familiarise yourself with new routines and learn what might be expected of you.
“It was also particularly useful for me, as I am aiming to work in the field of social work in the future.
“On my first day, I came into the office early in the morning and was briefed on my tasks in the week ahead and assigned a work laptop to borrow for the week!
“I was very nervous, having never really been in an office environment before, but was immediately warmly welcomed and integrated into the office space; everyone was so friendly and helpful!
Getting used to a new environment
“At first it felt so new to adjust to the rhythm of the workplace and to be given independent tasks for which I had responsibility, but I quickly adjusted to and appreciated the pace of work and my new environment.
“During my work placement, I conducted the literature review for an upcoming research paper, wrote an introductory piece and conducted another brief literature review. I also created some data spreadsheets, did some work with marketing, and sat in some meetings to get a scope of the broader work of the charity.
Applying research skills
“I thoroughly enjoyed all of the work I was assigned and felt I gained real insight into the nature of work. I gained great experience towards my research and writing skills, which I feel will benefit my upcoming coursework, EPQ and eventually higher education.
“This week has further cemented my aspiration to go into the social work sector as I feel the work here is invaluable to making a difference to people’s lives.
“If I could give one piece of advice to anyone else thinking of going on to do work experience, it would be to find something you’re passionate about, it makes a world of difference for enthusiasm- you’ll definitely find real value in the work!”
