School work experience

In most UK schools we have the concept of work experience.

In year 10, kids aged 15ish, will get the opportunity to spend a week working, usually for free, for a business to get experience of what work is like. Ideally this will be in an area that interests them however the main aim is getting them used to what is like in the “real world”.

When I did my work experience all those years ago it was for the local library - which was a lot busier in those days. I don’t remember a lot about it but I do remember spending a day on the mobile library van driving around North Devon. Funnily enough my first real job was working for a company that developed computer systems for public libraries - maybe that experience on my CV made the difference?

This week my son is doing his work experience at a local cafe. He is currently doing his first day so we will see later how he got on.