Year 10 Work Experience
Our Year 10 students were so excited about the learning experiences they had during the Work Experience Program, we had to have a part 2 for the Newsletter. For the featured student for this week, the Work Experience Road started off bumpy, but all things worked out for good for her in the end…
“When we were told that we had to find work experience, it was not as easy as I thought it would have been. My interest is in the medical field, so I was in the search for hospitals and medical centres that had work experience programs. Unfortunately, due to the impacts of the pandemic and Covid-19, the number of hospitals and centres offering work experience was very limited as many application dates had closed the year before. With many phone calls to local medical centres, applications, and emails to hospitals, I had no luck with finding a place! What was more frustrating was knowing that everyone else had opportunities and had already secured a placement and I was still searching. At this point I didn’t really know what to do and I thought I wouldn’t be able to complete work experience this year. Soon enough I heard about a Pharmacy which was open to work experience for year 10s. Without having much hope, I decided to give a call to the head office as this was kind of my last resort. After a chat with the head of employee services, I finally secured a place to complete my work experience!
On my first day I felt nervous, scared but excited. Once I was introduced to the caring staff and was shown around the store, I immediately felt at ease and comfortable. My supervisors were always there to help me and to answer any questions I had about a task. I was able to assist customers with queries and where to find certain over the counter medications as well as other tasks. After my week of work experience, I was offered a casual position at the pharmacy, and I happily accepted as I not only enjoyed the work and interacting with customers but also the lovely staff I was surrounded by.
I am extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to complete my work experience at a place where I obtained skills that would help me prosper in the work force in the near future. The importance of work experience may not be realised at first but after having the week of exposure to a new environment, it is then realised how many pathways and gateways that can be opened and given that you may have otherwise never have thought of acquiring or being interested in. So I encourage you to not give up if you end up in a position like I was in because even though it was not something I wanted to pursue, it still gave me the skills I needed and the experience and people you will meet at your work experience will truly be worth all the time spent in searching, calling and applying to endless amount of places.”
Sarah A, Year 10 Work Experience Student