Work Experience

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Caeyde, May 23, 2014.

  1. Before you ask what Work Experience is, it's a British thing for teenagers where you go to a workplace that offers Work Experience and you stay there for a week/2 weeks and see what it's like to work

    I know I'm not the only British person here ; - ;
    I'm doing my Work Experience on 30th June and I'm so nervous xD
    I'm not telling you where exactly, but it's a dog grooming/pet shop. I've never even been to the place, and I need to book an interview with the manager over the phone soon ; - ; I'm horrible on the phone....

    Any advice?
    Anyone else doing Work Experience soon? Come and panic with me
    But really Im so nervous....

    Edit: Thanks for all the help guys, it went great!
    AlexChance, 607 and Byeforeverthe2nd like this.
  2. I've never heard of this but it sounds like an american internship in ways. I am doing something similar but it's for the whole summer and not just a week.

    My best advice is to be honest with whoever interviews you, portray yourself in a way where you are self-confident and acting in a way that the job is right for you.

    Since this is over the phone you don't have to worry about this but in the future if it applies, makes sure you dress well and appropriate for the job. Showing up on time is very important, so show up a little earlier to make sure you'll make it in time.
    AliceF3, mba2012 and sambish20 like this.
  3. My advice is just be your self. Don't try to be fancy and "know it all" . Just show what you can do. And what you do best :)
    Byeforeverthe2nd and AliceF3 like this.
  4. I did work experience last year in October. It was a good experience...but the actual work was terrible. I got my placement at my local council (I know it doesn't sound great :p) because there weren't that many places offering work experience in ICT in my area apparently so I was told the council was offering placements so I decided to go there with a couple of friends (although we were all placed in different sectors). Luckily, the school organised most of it so I got out of doing interviews and such.

    Anyway I ended up working in the corporate services department doing business admin work. The first day was an induction day and the last day was a reflection kind of day, although this probably won't happen for you, we only did it because there was a few people from my school doing different placements (not just IT related, there was engineering and plumbing etc.) at the council and it was a trial scheme so they wanted some input on how it went.

    I pretty much did the same thing all week (Well, all 3 working days, I guess I kind of got it pretty easy). Basically they gave me a big pile of surveys and asked me to input it into a spreadsheet (Doesn't sound hard, well it wasn't, but if you weren't good at maths, you would have had a hard time). It was so repetitive and really boring. My day was split up by doing other random things, such as sorting out photocopying, making course posters and making a display board. However my colleagues were really nice. I was a bit scared at first but they were nice and they helped me a lot. So despite the deadly boring work, my colleagues were really helpful. I guess I got given the work no one else wanted to do.

    My advice is to be confident even if you don't feel it inside. Try not to be shy, speak up and make sure you get your point across (but don't sound aggressive obviously) and they will have more trust in you. Make sure your going into something you a really interested in or you really want to do in the future. Don't just pick some random placement. If you pick something your interested in, you'll then be able to see if you still want to do it at the end of the placement. It could go 2 ways.

    Good luck and feel free to ask me some questions. :)
    607 and mba2012 like this.
  5. I wish they did something like this in Australia. We go to career expos and that's it for information about working. Want work experience? Get a job. Luckily there's no real age limits :p
  6. A phone interview can be worst than a person to person interview, because you can't see the person's reactions to your responses.

    Advice for phone interview....

    1. Be calm - try not to be overly emotional - but don't be a robot either - find a middle ground
    2. Don't eat...Don't drink around the time of the interview
    3. Try to be in a quiet place
    4. Give the person your full attention
    5. Listen to the question they ask, if you don't understand, then ask to clarify (nothing wrong with not knowing)
    6. Don't make a lot of noises while speaking....the ums...uhs...huh..hmms..are annoying on the phone.
    7. Try to be clear as you can with your responses, so the other person doesn't have to ask what you mean.
    (all though they do sometimes ask to give an example or to clarify - doesn't mean your answer/response was wrong)
    8. Use your manners and be polite with Thank yous and yes/no sir/ma'am
    9. If you don't know the answer to their question, simply say so or if that situation/question doesn't apply to you.
    10. Be patient! After the phone interview is over, it may take a week or 2 before you get a response back, that's normal. They will have other candidates to interview/review.

    Good Luck!!!
    ~Kia
    607, AliceF3 and mba2012 like this.
  7. Cool! Make sure to bump this thread with your experiences! :)
    AliceF3 likes this.
  8. This thread is very old, and in most cases it is rude to "bump" it again.
    Consider starting a new thread instead.
    I would, but I think using this thread is better then making a new one identical to this
    Going to quickly sum up my time, for anyone who's interested

    On day 1, I went in and got greeted by my supervisor, Julie (who was very kind). When the first dogs came in, Juile asked another worker, Meg, to show me how to bath dogs. She got a fairly small dog (I can't remember what breed) and helped me put it in the bath. We bathed it, dried it, and brushed it together. After that, I bathed a dog on my own (Meg was watching). Juile asked me if I was confident bathing and drying dogs, I said yes and proceeded to groom 3 more dogs.
    The whole week has practically been the same, grooming 3-6 dogs everyday. The best part was probably the 2 puppies that came in! There was a black poodle puppy and a Yorkshire Terrier puppy, they were both so cute! :D Worst part was probably earlier today when I washed quite a large Cocker Spaniel.... It was pretty hyper, so getting it in the bath was a struggle, when it was in it kept trying to jump out as well so....
    All around though, apart from having dog hairs up my nose every day, it's been fun! :p
    607, samsimx and Pab10S like this.
  9. all of my what
  10. They cut the dogs fur there as well, and when you have people clipping dogs hair and people using powerful blowers (over sized hairdryers) to dry dogs there's hair flying all over the room, especially up your nose
    princebee likes this.
  11. Glad it's going well and hopefully you're enjoying it unlike I did. :p

    On the bumping old threads rule, it doesn't really apply to your own threads. :)
    607 likes this.
  12. For any other Canadians here who might want to do work experience, most high schools offer it at least here in Alberta. :)
  13. I'm scared now xD I do this in Year 10 (like all brits. Also thats in about 8 weeks now :p). I don't know when, though. And its scary because i'm not exactly the most confident person ever (Social anxiety :() so god knows how well i'll do. Plus, I doubt they offer anything in Game Development seeing as the nearest development studio to me got shut down last year :p

    Anyway, glad to see it all went well, Alice :) I can only wish mine goes as well as that xD
    607 likes this.
  14. yeah, we get that too in vancouver
    (I forget what it's called though)
  15. It's pretty late in Year 10 in my school, it's the holidays in a few weeks haha
    Just don't worry about it! I was dreading it, like most people, but when I got there everyone was really nice and helped me with whatever I needed. The first day is a little awkward, since you don't know where anything is, but after that it's just like going to school
    Make sure, when you pick where you go, that you pick somewhere interesting and pick it quick.... If not, you'll have it chosen for you and most of them are the most boring places imaginable.... e.e
  16. Lol im doing mine this week XD. Your lucky its over with :p
  17. In Murica, we call it either Externship, or Job Shadowing.
  18. Are you doing it for 1 or 2 weeks?
    Hah, good luck :p
  19. This thread reminds me - a friend of mine in Year 10 couldn't decide what he wanted to do and now he has to work in the kitchen of the school for 2 weeks.
    princebee, AliceF3 and 607 like this.
  20. I FEEL BAD FOR YOUR FRIEND