Searching for Opportunities
Having a keen interest in working within the education sector, my main goal whilst undertaking my short work placement was to gain some valuable experience working within a supportive role for young children. Although, I felt very anxious and apprehensive about the application process due to the prospect of interviews, I was glad that I had the opportunity to work in my ideal workplace, and also confirm whether it was or wasn’t what I wanted to do in my future career.
After hearing about the charity Reach Out through a university talk, I decided to apply as I felt it would be very rewarding to gain some experience mentoring on a one to one basis. After writing a cover letter and sending my newly enhanced CV, I was able to attend a training session to ensure I understood my role, particularly in regards to safe guarding and mental health. This gave me much greater insight into processes and regulations in place around child protection and as such allowed me to learn much more about the education system as a whole from a new perspective.
However, despite the positive experience the application process had given me, it was disheartening to found out that there were no current positions which suited my availability around university, and as such I wouldn’t be able to work with Reach Out as part of my short work placement.
Having to start the application process from the beginning felt very daunting as I hadn’t prepared a ‘plan B’ in the event that Reach Out hadn’t worked out. Looking back now, in hindsight it would have been much more efficient to apply for multiple placements together to ensure I was prepared for any eventuality and this is something I will take into account when I enter the job application process post-graduation.
In order to find a new work placement, I took note of the tools I had learned previously from my responses to the career self-efficacy scale in regards to networking. I took the opportunity to contact multiple local schools and nurseries to enquire about undertaking 30 hours of work with them and their pupils. Although many were unable to, I was incredibly grateful when I was invited to work as part of the SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) team within a nursery. Although I hadn’t considered working within education for SEND children, it was something I was open to gaining experience of and learning more about as I had little to no experience of special needs and disabilities in any setting before.
