Panicking over work experience.

I’m currently in year 10 and looking for work experience. I didn’t get much notice as last week we were told we had to get work experience by the first week back after half term (next week). I want to get work experience at a law firm (I wouldn’t mind having science-related work experience but there’s nothing like that in my area) and I’ve applied to 6. I’m waiting on 4 to respond and 2 have rejected me. To be honest, I don’t think any of them will accept me. It’s too much hassle for them. I don’t have any family members who could get me relevant work experience. I just feel stuck. I don’t know what to do or where to go for help and my school want us to be “independent” (in other words, they can’t be bothered to help us in any way). Any advice?

Reply 1

RobotStudent

If you're desperate and struggling, my advice is don't look just for "relevant" work experience. Any and all work experience can be relevant in the end. Even if you don't get to experience the field you actually want to pursue, any field can teach you what to expect in a workplace environment (such as time-managing your tasks and cooperating with coworkers, etc). That's why you should ask around at local stores and supermarkets. They'll be more likely to take you than a law firm, and then at least you'll have something. If one of those four firms would reply to you soon with a "yes," though, then that would be great, so I wish you the best of luck there.

Reply 2

harrysbar

Agree with the above, your work experience in Year 10 doen't need to be relevant and you will learn some skills wherever you go. Do you have any family members that can help you get any work experience at all? Otherwise the school will probably just place you in a care home or something like that, they are always looking for volunteers

Reply 3

cheesecakelove

Original post by Pucecub

Getting work experience at a law firm is not easy - not all of them offer work experience and those which do usually have a lot of competition. You would expect to apply a long time ago for these type of placements, so you may have left it a little late. I would be open to applying for different types of work placements, as sometimes doing work experience in different fields can offer you different insights into your interests and what you want to do for your career, for example, if you do work experience at a school and find it enjoyable, you may also consider careers such as teaching and working with children. If you are still interested in law work experience, there is nothing to stop you doing this in the future, for example, school holidays or year 12 work experience.

Do your school have a reserve list of placements? Sometimes these are offered to those who have found it hard to obtain a placement.