What is work experience in health and care?

Work experience is when you spend time in a place of work, to see what it is really like to work in the profession. This can be in a care home, GP practice, pharmacy, laboratory, office, or a hospital. 

Work experience helps people prepare for professional study and their future career. It allows those on placement to see what the job is really like, and find out if it is suited to them.

You can also speak to and learn from people who work in the profession. 

It gives the participants the opportunity to develop valuable work skills, as well as understand the values, attitudes and behaviours needed to work in health and care.

If you are a student, why start work experience?

Work experience is often encouraged for students so they can:

  • understand the world of work
  • have an understanding of the careers that they are interested in pursuing
  • develop work applied skills such as communication and teamwork
  • build up their experience for job or further study applications
  • learn from professionals doing the job.

Whether you are looking to go directly into employment or into further education, both employers and universities and colleges will be looking for people who have:

  • had people-focused experience of providing a service, care or help to others and that they understand the realities of working in a caring profession
  • developed some of the values, attitudes and behaviours essential to working in healthcare such as conscientiousness, good communication skills, and the ability to interact with a wide variety of people
  • a realistic understanding of healthcare and in particular the physical, organisational and emotional demands of the role.

When and how long

Work experience can be available at any point in the year.

The placements will vary in length. Depending on the size of the employer and the offer available, these can be for one day, five days or one or several weeks.

Students should focus on the quality of the experience rather than the time spent on placement. They should use the time to gain an understanding of the work in the organisation and of the profession.

Students might be able to combine placements with other providers in a different setting. The focus is not how much work experience someone undertakes but how they reflect on it and what they learn from it.