PR: Work Experience

• Work experience – going to work on an actual production and learning by actually doing, instead of a more supervised educational setting

The Work Experience Route

It can be quite easy to get work experience, especially as you wouldn’t be getting paid. This is because a lot of companies would be willing to take on people to teach and that are willing to learn, as they could see potential, and wouldn’t have to pay them anything. However, some companies may not want people on work experience as it is only temporary and may seem like a waste of their time if they’re teaching people instead of doing their work. Some people think that work experience is the same as an apprenticeship, but they do have some key differences. One being that people doing work experience don’t usually get paid, but people on apprenticeships do. Also, apprenticeships generally follow a certain route or career path, but work experience is more of an overview of a company almost.

A local company that would be likely to offer work experience would be ‘Pro-direct’ based in Newton Abbott (http://prodirectsoccer.com). In the past, they have offered many opportunities to previous students of South Devon College, sometimes even leading on to jobs. They are a sports company, mostly associated with football, and have offered students experience helping filming and editing adverts for them, even travelling the world. After going on their YouTube channel I found they have a small series called ‘Why I Play’, which features very popular and well-known footballers explaining what football means to them and their experiences. To find their contact details for asking for more information, I simply googled ‘pro direct Newton Abbott’ and found some contact details:

Positives of work experience:

• It is, again, hands-on experience
• Looks good on CVs to have actually been in the workplace
• If you already know people in the industry, they may be able to get you work experience, as there’s more chance than them getting you a proper job
• It can lead onto a job

Negatives of work experience:

• It can be difficult to get work experience in ‘bigger’ companies, without any contacts
• You won’t get paid, and if you’re doing work experience in a city it can become very expensive
• Not guaranteed jobs afterwards
• You might not be following a specific career