Work Experience for 17 year old

[LHJ21]

My son is meant to be doing a work experience in July for one week. He will be 17 by then. We have tried contacting a number of companies to enquire but they are all coming back that they do not do this. His school have said that he needs to find his own placement - but where?
He has also been applying for jobs for the last 6 months and is getting nowhere. He is just looking for a weekend job. There is just so much competition now for jobs. I am worried about him getting some experience and how difficult it will be to try and get a good job if he can’t even get any experience.
I have suggested that he should try and get some experience through volunteering.

Hi ,

I hope your well, I was there there a few years ago and found it to be horrible. Trying to get experience with no experience is a nightmare. I did this and also know a few teenagers who have done some volunteering at local food banks(this is normally great for retail jobs) and also your local NHS trust may be able to offer some volunteer work. I really hope this is useful and fingers crossed he finds something 🤗

It's really hard now.

I took my DD to work with me as she couldn't find anywhere.

Many kids go with family members or family friends. Some arrange it for another time (summer hols) and take that week off.

Local councils sometimes offer this or even his old primary school? Charity shops? Is there a local volunteering organisation that may be able to help?

My DD is 17 and has had a part time job since she was 15 . She has worked in a local cafe, Burger King and presently, Farmfoods. All these places take youngsters with very little experience. Her friends work in Tesco, B &M, McDonalds, cafes, hotels, cleaning jobs. If he os looking for work experience, he could volunteer at his local charity shop but she didn't need it . She has been exploited quite a bit and treated quite badly by owners and customers(local cafe) but I guess it's sadly part of life and I would encourage young people to join a trade union as soon as they hit 16.

My daughter is also trying to find work experience at the moment but we have only just done letters. I'm hoping somewhere will take her.

She turned 16 in August and she found it took a while to get a job - started looking after gcse finished and got something mid August (she was still 15 which didn't help - she couldn't actually start until after her birthday though as the right to work just declined her!) She had volunteered for a year so I do think that helped. She had been doing it for about 14 months so it showed she was reliable.

You just need to blitz the indeed applications - I think she probably did about 15-20 in the end but also handed her cv in at a few places, most wanted it online though.

She got lucky though as she's working for a high street store that seems to be treating her well and pays well - pay for 16 yo can range from £5.50 ish up to nearly £12 depending where you work.

What is your DD interested in as a career? It’s worth contacting local councils as many offer work experience. My DD did work experience at the council Democratic Service when she was 14, then returned in the summer holidays to the Accounts Department.

You're more likely to find something through leveraging your own network - asking your own employer, the employers of relatives and friends, etc. Most places I know that take work experience kids only do so as a favour if there's a relationship with an existing employee.

Hosting a teenager for a week's "work experience" is an expensive hassle that has little benefit to an employer other than perhaps reputation or creating a future recruitment stream.

Primary schools will sometimes be willing to take work experience placements, but even then it may require a pre-existing relationship.

We had a lot of difficulty securing work experience for Dd in year 10…. It’s not very encouraging to read it doesn’t getting much better when they’re older.

Lots of companies she approached said they haven’t run these week long schemes since Covid and some didn’t reply at all even though they said they did have schemes (NHS and HSBC)

it was disheartening.

She couldn’t work with her Dad or I due to the nature of our work.

There’s so much red tape these days and strict safeguarding rules which makes it difficult for under 18’s

in the end the council placed her somewhere (they have a list of places so the school set that up). Might be worth contacting your local one.

You just need to use all your contacts to get somewhere to take her, that's what we did.

Ask friends, relatives, neighbours, colleagues.
My DC1 had work experience in an area she was interested in with a contact of her BF's mother.
My DH arranged work experience for a neighbours child

Try your local Facebook page. State your son is looking for one weeks voluntary work experience (for school) and also a paid weekend job. He’s interested in computers and sport, he’s good at maths and cooking.