What I’ve learnt at school about work…

Before we started work experience, we had assemblies at school where everything got explained to us. They told us what we needed to do and how the whole process would work, which made it feel less confusing. We also had to create an account on Unifrog using a link the school sent us. That’s where we logged our work experience, which made it easier because everything was in one place. We also did quizzes on there, which helped give us an idea of what kind of jobs we might enjoy. It actually made me think more about my future and what I might want to do.

What it was like being at part of Team Marketing…
Being at Worcestershire County Council in the marketing team was a really good experience. I didn’t realise before how many different things marketing actually includes. I got to see things like graphic design, creating social media content, and making sure everything is accessible for different audiences. It was interesting seeing how much planning goes into even one post, and how everything has to be checked before it goes out. Everyone was really supportive and explained things properly, which made it easier to understand what they were doing.

What I’ve learned while on the job…
While I was there, I definitely improved my skills, especially using Canva, and I feel a lot more confident with it now. One of the main things I learned was how social media posts are created for different audiences. For example, we had to think about writing differently depending on the platform – like Facebook being aimed more at older audiences such as parents or grandparents, Instagram being more for people 24+, and TikTok being more for younger people. I also got to help come up with ideas for TikTok content and even film parts of it, which was really fun. It made me realise how much creativity goes into short videos, not just posting them.

We also worked on creating a campaign called Careers Clash, which is an idea for a game. It’s a mix between Google dinosaur game and Flappy Bird.

You choose a starting job role, and as you progress you level up from things like apprentice or entry level, to employee, then manager. Different job roles would have different abilities and stats you would see at the end (like at top trump card) and the game would link to real information about career pathways.

The idea is to make something fun but also educational at the same time. It would be on the Careers Worcs website so people can easily access it and learn about careers without it feeling boring. Knowing that this idea might actually get developed makes it feel even more exciting.

IMO…
I had a really good week at WCC. It was enjoyable and didn’t feel like normal schoolwork. It involved things I already like, like design and being creative, but also helped me learn new things about marketing and working in a professional environment.

The bits I really enjoyed…
The part I enjoyed the most was definitely the designing and creative work. I liked being able to come up with ideas and actually create things. I also really enjoyed working on the campaign idea because it felt like something real that could actually be used, not just a task for school. It made me feel more confident sharing ideas. It will also help me when I go back to school, especially for my GCSE graphics coursework, because I’ve developed my skills and learned how to use different tools.

The bits I didn’t enjoy as much…
The part I didn’t enjoy as much was writing the social media posts. It wasn’t bad, but it took a lot of time because you have to keep rewriting them depending on the audience and platform. I didn’t realise how much detail goes into making posts sound right for different age groups, and how important wording is.

What I think would make work experience better…
I think work experience would be even better if we had more careers lessons earlier in school. It would really help to learn more about real-life things like tax, National Insurance, pensions, and how to apply for jobs. If we understood those things earlier, work experience would make more sense and feel even more useful, because we’d understand how everything links to real jobs and adult life.

If you want more information on work experience or careers advice – get in touch with Careers Worcs, they’ll help you get where you want to be 🙂

• Lottie