Work Experience in Oxfordshire
Work experience involves spending time with a real employer, working alongside employees. It is a great way to experience the roles and responsibilities of real jobs.
Crucial: All students should have work experience no matter where they are studying.
Work Experience in Year 10
Your school should help you arrange your work experience, though you are usually offered the opportunity to find a placement yourself. You should talk to your Work Experience Co-Ordinator or form tutor about work experience.
Experience: I was grateful to be given the chance to find out about the service and be able to develop my IT skills. I also got to learn how to work in the office environment and to be more independent when tasks were set. - Bonnie, 15
Work Experience 16+
Your 16+ study programme may include work experience. Work experience is arranged by your place of study. Many young people also choose to get work experience through doing a part-time job, alongside study.
Crucial: If you are not in education, employment, or training (NEET), work experience is often part of your getting ready to work programme.
Work experience while job-seeking
Work experience isn’t just for when you’re at school. Doing work experience, volunteering, or an internship lets you get more experience for your CV. You can gain work readiness skills such as:
- Managing your time
- Reliability
- Writing, IT or technical skills
You can get work experience through volunteering, ready-for work programmes (ask your JobCentre+ advisor or a EET worker) and through local Training Providers.
Crucial: Safety is very important while doing work experience. Before you start you should fill in an application form and have a health and safety discussion to make sure you know how to work safely.
Work Experience age 18+
Work experience doesn't stop when you are 18. There are lots of different opportunities, including volunteering, internships, and more.
What you decide to do doesn't need to be related to your chosen career.
Experience: Most people have some breaks in employment when they are moving from learning to work, applying for jobs, between short contracts or waiting for agency , but don't worry, you can turn this to your advantage. You always gain something from your work experience. - Hattie
Work experience with oxme.info
When there is availability, young people from Oxfordshire work on council services like oxme.info for their work experience. Young people have worked on development, design, user testing, creating content, and more.
Here's a piece one of our work experience students wrote:
I was quite nervous before I started but upon meeting the team I was warmly welcomed. I was first given a quick tour of the building and was pleasantly surprised by it as you can’t really see in from the outside so I didn’t know what to expect. Before starting work, I had to complete some training courses. I would recommend applying for work experience no matter what your interests are. - Liam
Find out more
Related pages
Finding a job
There are all sorts of jobs out there and different ways of applying for them
Job seeking and work safety
Think safety, whether you are at work, doing work experience, or seeking work
Am I work ready?
Education is coming to an end and the workplace beckons - how can you make sure you are ready for work?
Comments
Hello, normally it would be your school or college organising work experience but a couple of the more interesting opportunities in Oxfordshire are: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory which is located in Didcot, and Science Oxford which also run regular clubs and activities for young people interested in science and engineering.
Hello, normally it would be your school or college organising work experience but a couple of the more interesting opportunities in Oxfordshire are: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory which is located in Didcot, and Science Oxford which also run regular clubs and activities for young people interested in science and engineering.
Hello, thank you for your comment. I recommend that you contact local Gyms and Leisure Centres directly to see if they offer work experience placements.
Thank you for your enquiry, M Taylor. Organising Work Experience is the responsibility of the school or college. Schools usually organise work experience in Year 10, though some choose to wait until Year 11. Work experience may also take place during 16+ education. It would be very unusual to do work experience at a younger age, although some kinds of work (for example, acting or modelling) are done at younger ages (see working legally for more details).
Oxfordshire County Council do not have a department with responsibility for organising work experience and we do not hold a database of local employers.
Hi I’m looking for work experience for my son in Yr 10. He is interested in digital art. Do you have any ideas please.
Many thanks
Claudia.
Hello Claudia, thank you for your comment. In Year 10 it should be down to your son's school, so I would recommend your son speaks with his careers adviser or work experience coordinator, or their head of year.
Hi, my son is studying 1st year of A levels in business and economics. He needs work experience for a week in July, is there a list of local businesses that offer this? Areas of interest are financial accountants and businesses consulting, thanks
Hello Andrea, thank you very much for your comment. We are not able to recommend work experience placements, and are not aware of any lists at this point in time, though the Oxfordshire LEP (https://oxlepskills.co.uk/) may be able to help. Organising suitable work experience is the responsibility of the school/college though they will always encourage children to seek out their own work experience as this is a great way for them to learn about job-seeking. The Work Experience Coordinator or Careers Lead at their place of learning can support with this, if needed.
Hi I'm a year 9 and I'm looking for work experience somewhere in textiles if anyone has any ideas I would be very grateful thanks
It's great that you have such a clear idea of what you want to do, and asking at local fabric shops and textiles companies is always a good place to start. But you may wish to widen your search, as all professions need core skills, and lots of skills are transferrable, like timekeeping, attention to detail and customer service. It is also worth investigating opportunities at places like your local library, as many of these have makerspace facilities, which may include textile technology. Your school or place of learning should have more support available to help you find a suitable placement. Thanks again for contacting oxme
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