Work Experience is pointless and a waste of time. This opinion will be rushing through many people’s minds. But from a teenager’s point of view it is a time where you can get 2 weeks away from school (what a relief), and a chance to gain an insight into an adult environment.Yes, I know many young people on work experience will have to make tea and coffee, and do odd jobs that the staff don’t feel like doing, but we all have to start somewhere and this experience gives us a chance to see what it is like. This is all an experience, and many people will not get another chance to have a taste of life in an office, shop, school or nursery etc. My own initial thought when I was offered the place at DrugScope was that I would have been made to do all the boring office jobs and the odd jobs the staff did not want to do. My whole perspective of office life has now changed due to the amazing people I had to work with. Not only did I learn tremendously from the people at DrugScope, I also learnt a lot about myself. I learnt that I have an opinion of myself which is not great and others disagreed and thought I had potential.

I found out that office life isn’t as glamorous as it is sometimes made out to be; you don’t sit down and surf the net all day, you have to do a lot of typing, sending e-mails and go to meetings. The worst of all is when you have to sort out the post (what a nightmare). I had to sit down at a table for ages stuffing envelopes. If I see an envelope again, I will pass out!

Work experience was an adventure in itself as it gave me a chance to mature, and enabled me to adapt into an adult environment. It also gave me a chance to see if any other professions suited who I am.

Before I came to DrugScope I always knew that I wanted to work in media as that is where my passion has always been and working with Ruth has given me an insight into the work involved in media. As she is the Press & Communications Officer, she gave me the chance to see press releases, the service which journalists use to get their stories. I found all of this fascinating as I was learning things that I had never come across.

I also worked with Jill, one of the Information Officers (librarians). I found this another learning experience as I had a vision of librarians; they were the people who are at the desk at the library ordering kids to BE QUIET, but I learnt so much from her. Her job is more than that, not only does she have to answer the phone to a large amount of people and provide them with information, she also has to maintain the helpfinder directory and update its data. The stereotypical view of this profession is wrong in many cases.

I had to go to a couple of meetings, which was new to me as I have never been in ones like those. They gave me an understanding of how meetings are operated. I can now understand why a lot of adults like to drink coffee! I found the Education Forum meeting interesting as I got a chance to see how a group of professionals sort out problems to do with drug education.

This link takes you to an article written by a journalist called Sathanam Sanghhera. Sanghhera clearly broadcasts that he thinks work experience is a waste of time. Maybe it has changed since he did it back his day, but it also matters what company you go to. He infers that ‘too many students spend their placements being passed around the office, disowned by successive adult employees, This is very true in many cases, but fortunately this did not happen to me. Yes, I was sent to different people daily, but it was because I needed to learn the different types of jobs which are at DrugScope. All the staff enabled me to work freely and helped me whenever I needed them. Not a single one of the staff treated me as if I were unwanted, or disowned me.The first day was remarkable. I was escorted around the office and shown where the important places were such as the toilet and kitchen. I was clearly introduced to the members of staff, and this was helpful as if I needed help from any particular person I did not feel uncomfortable or awkward, coming across them in the office.This experience has flown by. It’s unbelievable. I will miss all of the people who work here at DrugScope, as they have taught me a lot, made me laugh and most of all they have welcomed me as a part of the team.Overall, I have had a packed 2 weeks, full of good and hardly any bad days, except when I was extremely tired : (

Shianne Brown
DrugScope work placement student, June/July 2007

In her short two weeks at DrugScope, Shianne has put together some useful resources for us, including her blog article on young people’s websites and some bookmark sets from our reading lists.

Labels: DrugScope resources, young people