How can I help my child think about types of work and work experiences that might suit them?
Helping young people to get ideas of what they want from future working life can be a good first step to them thinking about what they might like to do for a work experience placement. Be aware though, that it is not always easy to get a work experience placement in exactly the job they might like to do in the future, especially for Y10/11 work experience.
That is because there is competition for placements but also because many work roles are unable to accept under 16s for health and safety reasons. However, the good news is that ANY work placement is an opportunity to:
- Be seen as a worker and see yourself as a worker
- See what a working environment is like
- Practice and develop skills
If a student is in Y12 at school or college there will be more options to do a placement related to a future job.
How to help your child start thinking about what they want from future work and work experience:
The free to use Careerpilot site has some great activities that can help.
- The Careerpilot site has a Job Quiz, with 50 pictures of different things a person might want from work. The quiz results show which job sectors fit with the choices the student made in the quiz. As a parent, you can suggest your child completes this quiz (they will need to create a free account on the site or if they have already registered they will need to be signed in on Careerpilot - 'register' is top-right of home page and students should choose their school from a list or choose 'other').
- Or a young person can Start with a Subject they love which will give them ideas of jobs that lead on from that subject. For work experience, it might not be possible to do a job that needs lots of training e.g 'vet', but a young person might look for related opportunities e.g 'Animal Care Worker'.
- A young person could also Start with their Personality and do the 'Buzz Quiz'. This asks about their preferences for how they like to do things. The quiz results show their personality traits and strengths and gives them ideas of job sectors that could be suited to them.
How to explore jobs and learn about the role:
When the young person has generated some ideas of job sectors or jobs they are interested in, they can explore them in more detail using more than 800 job profiles on Careerpilot.
The job profiles contain lots of information about the job, including:
- Salary;
- Is is going to grow or decline
- The tasks the job involves
- Routes into the job - showing all qualification pathways into the role
- Skills required for the job
This detailed information can help students start thinking of job sectors or job roles they might like to explore further, which can help them think of a possible work experience placement.
Answers to these other questions might also help you:
- What is work experience and what are the benefits?
- How can I help my child find a work experience placement?
- How can I help my child see what skills they have to offer to a work experience placement?
- How can I help my child prepare an email to send to an employer requesting work experience?
- How can I help my child get ready for a work placement so they feel more confident?
