Work Placements

Get Experience to Get Ahead

Hands-on experience to get ahead.

A work placement gives you the opportunity to get hands-on experience of working in a particular role and can be invaluable when it comes to landing your first job. At Gateshead College, we have a dedicated Work Experience programme to help you to make the most of your time here and to get you on the path to your chosen career. Our team have great links with industry across all sectors and can help you with finding a placement as well as giving you advice on applying and going for interviews to make sure you have the employment edge.

What is a placement?

Work experience is time spent with a company or employer in a real-life working environment. You will be given tasks and jobs and in return you will get experience, knowledge and a better understanding of a sector or a particular company. You may be assigned a mentor who you will work with throughout your placement or you may move around different departments so you get lots of different experiences within one business.

 The length of time you will spend in your work placement will depend on the individual employer. So far our students have spent a day a week with a company over a few months and some have spent as much as a full month within a company. It all depends on what is right for you and them.

What will I get in return?

  • You’ll stand out against other candidates by having real life work experience.
  • You’ll develop relevant skills, knowledge and experience and hands-on experience of a working environment.
  • You’ll get a better understanding of an industry or job and it may even help you to make up your mind about whether a particular career is right for you.
  • You’ll get a reference from the company.
  • It may even lead to a job at the end if you really impress.

 Although work placements are not paid, you may be entitled to travel or expenses.

Sectors

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How to apply

Applying for a work placement should be approached in exactly the same way as you would if you were applying for a job. Make sure that your CV or application form is up to date and shows the company why you want to get involved.  If you need help, why not check out our CV writing tips or interview techniques pages. 

Book now for an appointment with our Work Placement Officer.

Get in touch

Finding your own placement

At Gateshead College we have links with lots of local and national employers across all types of jobs so get in touch with us first and we’ll see if we can help.

You may also want to use your own contacts. If you have a particular organisation or sector in mind then maybe your family or friends have links that could help you. If you’ve got contacts, then use them.

Another approach would be to take a look at the professional body for your sector or if your chosen careers have events, get yourself along. You never know who you may meet.

Remember, if you’re arranging your own work placement, it’s still worth talking to us as we can make sure that all the terms of the placement are in place for you

What skills will I gain?

We asked Jill Lister, our Work Placement Co-ordinator, for the types of attributes that employers are looking for that can be gained by a work placement.

  • 1Communication skills

    This is a skill that employers are looking for, they want to know that you have experience in a working environment of both written and spoken communications. A work placement gives you the opportunity to show real-world examples or working and communicating with a different range of people as part of a team or business.

  • 2Motivation

    Motivation is an attribute that employers are looking for and often ask for you to talk about in an interview. Being in a workplace gives you loads of opportunities to display this skill Just by applying and taking part in a work placement shows how motivated you are to secure a job in your chosen career.

  • 3Time management

    Employers want to know that you will be reliable and can turn up to work on time every day. By putting yourself in a working environment, you have already shown how you can manage your time. On your placement you’ll also be given multiple tasks to do so in an interview you can talk about how you managed your time when you were there. 

  • 4Knowledge

    At Gateshead College, you’ll gain knowledge of your subject matter but nothing beats the knowledge you gain from working in a business or organisation. A work placement will give you the insider knowledge of the industry that you can talk about to a perspective employer in the future.

  • 5Team work

    It seems simple but working as part of a team can bring about its own unique set of challenges. So a work placement is an ideal opportunity to show how you can adapt to working with different personalities.

  • 6Find out more

    Find out more about the skills employers are looking for by hearing from some of our business partners.