Amazing Work Experience Placements!
From the 1st of November until the 12th, the year 13 Business, Administration and Finance group went off on work experience as part of their course.
The idea of the work experience was for each student to gain an idea of what it is like in the world of work, and also get a feel of the tasks and responsibilities that must be completed within that role and within that organisation.
The group went to a variety of placements that came under very different subject areas and were chosen to suit each student’s area of interest. Each placement was very different and they all had different aims and objectives, some working with customers and their needs but other mainly with products. During the experience we all kept a daily diary of what tasks we carried out as well as what went well and what didn’t go so well. We each had to find out about the positive and negative effects of one area of employment legislation. We also had to look at different types of performance management that the organisations used with their employees, this included the different methods and what was good or bad about them.
Before our placement took place we had to set ourselves some SMART goals in which we worked towards and developed through the tasks we were given. In order to show we had achieved them we had to collect evidence from our employers which we did in a form of witness statements or general write ups.
Bonita worked in many different departments at Aylesford Newsprint including accounts and shadowed the executive assistant, Heidi went to Navigator Productions for the first week and for the second she went to Berengrave Service Station Ltd in which she focused on accounts and finance. Jade went to Blue Inc and Nomen Internationals to get an insight into the retail industry. Lydia worked at various function rooms and hotels in Central London in order to shadow the role of Events Manager.
Dannielle worked at KND Engraving for her placement in which she looked at making promotional material. Natalie spent the two weeks at Forte Pharma where she mainly focused on administration tasks and tele-sales. Grace went to Kent Messenger for her experience where she took on the role of marketing and even put together an advert that went in to the Kent Messenger newspaper. Luke spent his first week at Crossley & co, where he looked at finance tasks, the second week was slightly different, spent at A.W.Stubbs & Son where he looked at carpentry.
Finally, Danielle was at Till Skills for the first week where she mainly done work on the till and got experience in customer service. She then went to Johnsons Controls for the second week where she took on the role of a receptionist and got experience with administrative tasks.
Everyone really enjoyed their time at work placement and really gained a beneficial experience which gave them an insight in to working life as well as gave us all references which we can use in future life. We were all really grateful for the opportunity and chance to meet new people, one of us even got paid for the work done over the two weeks and another two got offered the chance to come back after sixth form.
Lydia's placement was arranged through a contact of Lydia’s Ken Tappenden who is one of the most popular Toastmasters within London and the Medway area. During the placement, Lydia decided to study events management. She went to various events around London and had the opportunity to shadow events organizers.
Among the events was the “Dyslexia Action Awards” held at the Dorchester Hotel London. Lydia was taken on as a member of the events team and carried out specific jobs that she had been asked to do. As well as taking part in the overall management of the event, Lydia was also given the brilliant opportunity of speaking to top business man Theo Paphitis. She was able to receive advice on a future career along with contacts to help her pursue her career. Other celebrities included Brian Conley, Nick Knowles, Rosaleen Blair, Anthea Turner and Charley Boorman.
Other events included Bankers Dinner at the Plaza, Jewish charity events at the Millennium Hotel London, Livery Dinners and British Guild Of Travel Writers Awards. Lydia was given various jobs throughout which contributed to the overall delivery of the event. One of the jobs among these was to present David Suchet (Hercule Poirot) with an Award. Lydia received multiple emails commenting on her professional work attitude during this event.
“Please tell her parents how superb she was; I think she will be something of a star! Calm, professional, very grown up, beautiful and extremely nice as well! What a great mix!” (Mary Evens)
“I hope to see you again next-and Lydia too!” (Fiona Quinn)
Lydia firmly believes that the business department has played a massive role in helping her to become the business person she is. By developing her confidence, ability to manage, develop working relationships and work well within a team. These are all key things Lydia will need when entering into the business world of work.
Amongst all of this, Lydia was offered numerous internships/work placements by Dyslexia Action, Live Events and The Beadle’s. Lydia has learnt an awful lot about the events industry and has had an opportunity of a life time to investigate into a future career path.
