Can't find any work experience - confused by the whole thing

[MrsRossPoldark]

I have been trying unsuccesfuly to find any wex for my DS16.

His school use a 'Consortium', which is a paid-for scheme. I have just asked for a refund of my £47 fee, as of the 7 placements he applied for, every one has responded with "we aren't doing wex this year", or "we aren't doing placements in the week you requested". At no point does the website indicate that the placement isn't 'live' or ask which week you want wex for, so you are left to remember to login and check progress every now and agin - not even an email to say 'your application was not successful'. You can only apply for 4 at any one time, so we are now 8 weeks on [having gone through the application cycle twice now], with nothing to show for it. I logged on the other day to find all 7 of my applications all with 'unsuccesful' against them, and there seem to be no more suitable placements to apply for now.

I have other children, a job, etc, so don't always remember to login regularly to check just doesn't always figure on my huge list of things to do and as a paid for scheme, an email to tell you whether your application has got to the next stage isn't much to ask surely?

I have asked friends [most are sole traders so don't have time to supervise]; local shops [no - we don't as a policy do wex; Health & Saftety issues; insufficient staff to supervise], websites; the school themselves [as a private school I expect a bit more proactive support and/or them to be using some of the parents themselves, as I know some would be running businesses that could take on wex's if they had a mind to, surely]. My DS doesn't want to do wex at all, but I feel he needs to as otherwise his CV will look empty compared to others who may be going for the same jobs in the future, but he just doesn't understand that aspect.

Any advice please, as I am getting very frustrated and on top of being unsuccessful at understanding how apprenticeships work for my ES17 [see separate thread!], I just feel lost, stupid and confused.

[Iwantacampervan]

My year 10 daughter and her friend found their work experience placements by going round all the shops in our local city and asking. They have to do work experience and all school did was provide a list of contacts which was out of date.
They do not necessarily want to work in retail but they have gained confidence by sorting it out themselves and the week when they have to be in a work environment will help them.
They are gong to a stationery shop so they will be in their element!

[MrsRossPoldark]

The impression I get is that girls [certainly in my circle of friends] are far more amenable and creative when it comes to finding anything. My DS is just not into retail - he tried a job in our corner shop for a while but hated it. Would be great if he was, as we live right next to one of the biggest retail centres in SE England!

[Millymollymama]

Ok. So what is he into? In what field does he have an interest?

I don't actually think work experience at 16 is the be all and end all of life. It is nice to have but not essential.

[tippytappywriter]

Op. What is he interested in? What hobbies does he have? What are the implications of him not doing it? From your post it seems as if you are putting in a lot of effort. Can he think about what he would actually enjoy doing and turn that into an opportunity in some way?

[titchy]

Tbh a week's work experience isn't ever going to make a difference to his CV so don't worry from that point of view. A job on the other hand, actually being paid to work and holding down a job looks much better. He should be able to find something to be honest, even if it's a few hours a week at McDs or pot washing or even voluntary work reading to old dears or at your local library. Agree you should ask for your money back though!

[balletgirlmum]

From an employers point of view work experience is a nightmare & I'm not surprised companies are refusing.

The company I work for would love to take young people on but as a small family run business the hoops you have to jump through (hoops mostly set by the schools) are time consuming, not feasible & don't actually protect the young person.

[AgentProvocateur]

The companies I've worked for (engineering / architecture / accountants) regularly take on WEX, but only if approached directly by the young person. To be frank, anyone whose parent was asking, wasn't someone we would want in the office. He needs to put in the work and go and visit offices etc, and appear enthusiastic.

[Leeds2]

Maybe try his primary school? I volunteer in DD's former primary, and we have a lot come back!

[Millymollymama]

Volunteer, if he cannot get work experience. Often this is so much better anyway.

[Pantah630]

DS2 has just finished his 2 weeks WE in a neighbouring boroughs high school IT department. Both he and his own IT teacher are now green with envy at the othe schools IT budget . It's worth asking at other senior/junior schools nearby for placements.

[Ishouldbeweaving]

With our (state) school all of Y10 do a week's work experience. Some of the children (or their parents) arrange their own placements but school will find a placement for everyone. The fall back position seems to be placements at junior schools or park ranger posts in the local country park.

[Pantah630]

Oh and what agent said, he organised it himself.

[MagentaVitus]

He should be doing this, not you.

I wouldn't touch a wex unless I'd had direct contact from the young person.

[Theas18]

Why isn't he sorting it out?

It is very hard though esp at sub 16 these days I agree

[bloodyteenagers]

He needs to sort this out for himself.
Just like he will have to sort out further education and eventually finding a job.
If he doesn't do it, then that's his fault and instead of doing wex he will be in school.

As for looking good on the cv, not really. Only one of my dc's did wex. One the school had stopped doing wex and the other dc didn't want to do wex. All three have got jobs and it was never questioned why there was no wex. Instead they volunteered and employers were more impressed with this that any forced wex.

[MrsRossPoldark]

Think the upshot might be for me not to worry so much & if he wants to do it, he will.

Having said that, he does now have an interview Friday for a local music studio that seems keen to have him. Yes, I did organise it for him, but there you go! Some kids will make the effort, some won't. Having said that, he is very motivated by money so I don't doubt that he'll get a job when he feels he needs one!

[MrsRossPoldark]

Theas18: he's just quite shy and not good at chatting people up. I was painfully shy at his age & still find it very hard to make an approach, even though i have run my own business before - I had to really work myself up to make a sales pitch & still have difficulty making phone calls. I know how he feels about trying to organise things himself.

[BackforGood]

but that is kind of the point....
Work experience in Yr11 isn't about the actual work you do, it's about getting outside your comfort zone, and speaking with adults in the workplace.

[Charis1]

Tbh a week's work experience isn't ever going to make a difference to his CV so don't worry from that point of view.

It makes a HUGE difference, every application for the next 5 years is going to expect references to work experience on it, it is used in school references and UCAS.

He should be doing this, not you

exactly

[antimatter]

My son is doing 1 week in a local library and another in an art gallery in a stately home.
Both found by emailing at least 100 places.
Most places were booked up by the time he contacted them mid Feb!

[MagentaVitus]

He's just quite shy and not good at chatting people up.

And how is babying him going to help him get better? Do you want him to end up with the same problems as you? The traits you listed are not advantageous.

[rubyflipper]

Your son needs to toughen up and arrange wex himself.

I had a job where one of my duties was organising work experience students. After a while I stopped taking on students whose parents and teachers had arranged placements because if the kids were too shy to either call me or write a letter, then they were simply not ready to be let loose in an office environment.

[DPotter]

I have to agree with other posters - he has to do this for himself. Especially if he's shy. He can use email as the first method of contact.

I can't believe he's not the one checking in with the website service on a daily basis - for heaven's sake why are you doing it ? If he can't be bothered it should be him paying back the £47 not the school. Sorry - that reads back as harsh but really it's his job to get himself sorted. Sit him down and tell him to check in daily with the website.

[MrsRossPoldark]

At the mo, I'm trying hard to take a back seat, as I had hoped that if his mates are getting wex sorted out themselves, then he might see the sense but it's hard to watch him waste the opportunity when I can see the consequences but he can't or won't?

Right now I'd rather he was studying for his GCSEs as that has to be the priority & we'll have to sort after. Seems stupid to organise Wex for GCSE time anyway. Whose stupid idea was that!

I'm sure my ES did his wex the year before GCSEs so it didn't conflict.