Did you organise your teen's work experience yourself? Or did your teen do it

[notjustme]

DD2 has work experience next year and she wants a law placement, she's just decided to tell me that it's my job to ring around all the local solicitors as she doesn't want to do it.

I'm inclined to refuse - when I did WE it was about the student enquiring and my parents certainly didn't ring up for me, I was under the impression that it was meant to be about them getting experience of enquiring about and getting work experience, and then getting the experience of working.

What's the general consensus - should I do the leg work?

DD did hers last year. The school organised it, we were told that parents and students were not allowed to approach businesses. However, I would say that DD should do it. Maybe you could write down what she should say on her initial enquiry so she doesn't get flustered.

when dd1 did it a few years back I helped her draw up her list of options and we talked about what she should say/write to apply but she did the actual contacts herself. She really struggled, so many places said they wouldn't take anyone under 16.

I would help your DD as far as you can by making introductions if you know any lawyers, companies with legal departments etc.. to approach - it is reasonable (and a good idea) for her to ask family and friends to help make connections, rather than just cold-callin. You might sit down with her and help her brainstorm a list of family friends who might have legal connections.

If it comes down to cold calling local solicitors she should do it. I wouldn't be inclined to give someone a work experience placement if they had to get their mum to ring up and ask!

School organised it. They actually said that if students really wanted a different kind of placement they could try to find one, but it would be much more difficult sorting out all the relevant insurance paperwork in time.

Agree - its not your job to do this. DS1 is some way off this but his school organises it all in house, guiding the pupils and helping them but they are very much expected to do it themselves.

DD did hers last year - they orgnaised a selection of placements. DD didn't like the look of any of them, she wanted to do work experience at the local airport in air traffic control, so she called them. She couldn't do her work experience there (she was too young apparently) so she looked around for something else to do, and in the end approached the local theatre and got work experience in their lighting department. She then told the school and got them to send registration/insurance docs.

I didn't have any part in it.

DD1 has hers July 2012.
Advised to find something ourselves, otherwise school will sort out - but that may not necessarily be what they want.

DD wants to do two separate weeks. For one of them,
I did some initial ringing around to find out if the organisations took on year 10s for work experience and got the contact details if they did. Left it to DD to email the one she wanted and pass the reply back to school.

The other week was somewhere she had already done a day at as a competition prize.

DD organised hers for next March as she wanted to work in a specialist field. We helped her create a CV and then made her send it to people with a covering letter.
Unfortunately she was too young to do what she wanted (vets) but got into her local stables instead

She's been told by the school that she has to find her own placement as the school does not have any law placements. We're allowed to look in the local area because of this. I have no problem with finding her a list of the local solicitors etc, helping her plan what she will say, draft a cover letter etc to send, but I was not expecting to have to ring them myself and apply for her! I don't know any lawyers or have any personal contact with any law companies so I can't help her personally. She has no family who are in law either - well, there is a relative in the police but she's not interested in that. She didn't even want to look at solicitors either as they 'just do the paperwork' and only wanted to look at barristers - I have convinced her otherwise!

She has told me that the careers advisor at school told her parents normally ring to get placements - something tells me that might be another one of those little lines that turn out not to be true!

Phew, DD2 has come home in a slightly better mood and has taken the news that she is calling them better than she did earlier! Providing I give her a list of the people and tell her what to say

DS had his more or less sorted before I knew much about it.

I just had to give him a couple of lifts to the place to get things signed and that was it really.

The school would have sorted him out if he didn't get anywhere but he said it would have been crap placements that know one wanted.

It looks a lot better to the employer when they ring themselves, but I think there is a lot to be said for writing or sending an email instead.