Work experience
Learn about workplaces, build confidence and develop examples you can use in future applications and interviews.
Why work experience matters
Work experience can help you understand what a workplace is really like, test an interest, build confidence and give you useful examples for future applications and interviews.
Learn how workplaces work
See how people communicate, organise tasks, solve problems and work as a team.
Test an idea
Experience can help you decide whether a type of work interests you before you make a bigger commitment.
Build examples
Real experiences give you situations to talk about when an employer asks about your skills.
Make the experience useful
- Be clear about what you want to learn from the experience.
- Ask questions and pay attention to how the workplace operates.
- Take opportunities to help with real tasks where appropriate.
- Notice the skills you use, not only the tasks you complete.
- Afterwards, write down what you learned while it is still fresh.
Experience does not have to look impressive to be useful
Helping customers, working with other people, turning up reliably, learning a new task and solving everyday problems can all give you useful evidence of your skills.
Use your experience
Put it into your CV or application
Turn what you did into clear evidence of your skills and contribution.
Use your experience →Prepare examples for interviews
Think about situations that show how you communicated, learned or solved a problem.
Prepare examples →Build more experience through volunteering
Volunteering can give you another way to develop skills and confidence.
Explore volunteering →Need help with your next step?
A careers guidance practitioner can help you think through your options and prepare for work.