Y10 work experience - ugghhh

[SleepEatSnoozeRepeat]

DD is completely stressed and upset over the prospect of work experience next year. Y10 usually do it in April and the school are getting them to sign up to things now. There is a very limited range of options, or the kids can sort their own, but DD is completely overwhelmed by the whole thing.

She is very quiet and introverted, anything public facing would destroy her. She cannot stand noise, busy environments, small children. She is likely on the autistic spectrum and has some adaptations at school for accessing the support hub, being able to leave class if overwhelmed, and uses ear plugs in very noisy situations. When she gets overwhelmed she just shuts down, will sit and cry or rock. She refused to go on the school residential due to no private space or quiet time. She does well academically and has ideas about higher education but no real idea about a job or career.

I can see many jobs that would suit her well, but none of them seem to fit with work experience! She has excellent attention to detail and does well in English, something in editing or writing would probably suit her. Working from home, data entry, analysis type work. But right now she is refusing to engage with the whole thing and apparently in school they are getting pushed about it endlessly. Nothing has been sent home though! Both DH and I work in public facing roles and with high security clearance needed for projects so work experience isn’t an option.

Does anyone have experience of kids just not doing it? Or work in a school where you deal with this sort of thing? DD is already starting to fret and I can see her mind spiralling - I want to tell her to not panic and she can opt out like the residential if it comes to it, but suspect it’s being pushed on them all the time in school. She has a massive fear of getting in trouble to go with all the rest! I can’t help but think that it’s all a bit pointless anyway, my own work experience was a boring waste of time and this might be affecting my judgement on it.

If it's going to stress her out badly then there's no point. Especially if she isn't motivated to find an employer she'd be happy to work with.
But there are elements to it that are beneficial.
Local authorities usually do loads of placements. She could do a back office role, data entry, office admin and whatnot. It's not exactly inspiring stuff, but sometimes they say they'd offer a job to the person when they've finished school.
It's good in a way, that it shows kids what a functioning workplace is like, and how to interact with adults professionally who aren't teachers/school staff.

Can she arrange her own? Gardening? Library? I think it is a valuable life experience and for many children a real boost of confidence. Good luck!

Try a local university. My ex take 1-2 students each year in his lab. Not everyone is able to (have to be dbs etc) but those who can are encouraged to do so

I did work experience in my local uni many moons ago and absolutely loved it but a lot of the time it is a bit of a waste of time. I agree with trying local libraries and museums. DS did work experience at his school library which might work for her as it would be familiar.

Have you got her on the waiting list for ASD assessment? I would make that an absolute priority if not.

My eldest years ago now did his at a local newspaper office it was brilliant. Did get taken out for a story but just listened.

Library?
Local museum? Our small local one recently posted about a work experience person in their archive dept.
Something outside like National Park/Trust?
One of our large tourist attractions NS recently had work experience kids doing big counts and Drystone Walling.

My son is currently on WE, he's quiet and introverted and coping well. Some of his friends are working with family or staying at school. He's really enjoying the experience.
What does she want to do when she's older?

It is a bit of a disaster, we just survived Y12 work experience last month. DD sent tons of applications to museums, galleries etc in London but they either don't take them at all, only linked local schools or only over 18s.

In the end the school put her in a Reception class of a local Infant school. She had a good time but in my opinion that's not what the whole concept is about.

Y10. was 2022, lots of people still wfh a lot and DD did a stint at our local library. She put displays togehter, helped with the set up of toddler activities, cleared up afterwards, sorted books and was asked to write some short reviews for books she knew and would recommend. She loved it.
And as she was just 15 there is so much red tape around it, I know of several smaller companies/self-employed who don't do it anymore as it gets too much.

Could you go to your friends and ask if their companies are offering anything? If it comes via a connection it is often easier to ask to accomodate a more quite job.
Or check with charity shops if they take them to help with sorting out donations, not public facing but still helpful.

There are lots of online/virtual WEX options now - one of those?

www.springpod.com/virtual-work-experience

My dd done hers in a lab fairly recently. She’s also quite shy but was able to do the placement with a couple of her friends. Would that be an option?

@SleepEatSnoozeRepeat contact the careers lead at school and voice your concerns, ask if they have any suitable contacts. My DD ended up dropping out of school half way through year 10, but prior to that I was having the same issues with finding something suitable.

My kids and GCs loved it. They did well out of it, as it gave them contacts/references when they wanted real work.

Records management. A lot of govt agencies or firms keep physical paper files in addition to electronic files. Your daughter could spend hours by herself surrounded by filing cabinets. It’s actually a genuine career path but also very chill.

That's my DD's dream, not goverment but in a museum's archive or stately home, surrounded by paper she needs sorting.

I would encourage her to do it, but not as just a ‘tick box’ exercise somewhere she will hate. It’s a good opportunity to have a good realistic think about what sort of area of work she would like to do in the future, which given her needs is not an easy question. She may well need to try out a few different things.

Our tiny (but excellent) town museum loves work experience students. They sometimes staff the desk with more regular volunteers, they tidy stuff, and most interestingly they sometimes do a b it big easy cataloguing. Everything is being digitised so it can be really helpful.

My DC wanted a science-based work experience, although it was in the summer holidays of y12, not y10. We went to a science festival and we asked everyone we came across if they could offer anything. Eventually, somebody said they knew somebody who probably could and asked my dc to forward their CV. A few weeks later, an email came offering some experience with a university research team!

So, with a bit of imagination and ingenuity and luck it is possible to get a dream experience that is actually useful.

Are you anywhere near Bristol my son would love this