Skip to content

A new UK Government took office on 11 May.
As a result the content on this site may not reflect current Government policy.
All statutory guidance and legislation published on this site continues to reflect the current legal position unless indicated otherwise.
To view the new Department for Education website, please go to http://www.education.gov.uk

The value of work experience

Post-16, Anushka opted for A Level courses in subjects that she liked and was good at - biology, chemistry and maths. During Year 12 she started to investigate science-related careers. Dentistry attracted her, so she researched dental degrees and organised some work shadowing at a dental practice. She didn't enjoy it and it put her off a career in dentistry.

Anushka thought carefully about why she hadn't enjoyed the work shadowing. She realised that the part of science that she enjoyed most was research. She met with her careers teacher and started to look at careers involving scientific research. She finally decided that biochemistry would be perfect for her and now has a place to study biochemistry at university. She's really glad that she arranged some work shadowing at the dental practice. 'I could easily have gone into dentistry without knowing fully what the job entailed. It would have been wrong for me.'

Tool kit

Case Study Quote

I'd recommend anyone who has a job idea to get some work experience. It will help you find out if it's something you really want to do, and if not, give you time to look at alternatives before making your decision.