Work Experience

Students started with a talk from a professional who works with families experiencing socio-economic deprivation, because of its importance in health work of all types.  

Students also learned about several different NHS careers. At interviews you might be asked about the importance of teamwork in the NHS, and therefore understanding different roles can help you to exemplify this (even if they are not the specific careers you are wanting to go into).  

Students listened to talks from, or had workshops with: 

• a midwife 

• two physiotherapists 

• a public health and environmental health practitioner 

• and an Early Help professional who will give insights into the social issues that are fundamentally important to all health professions. 

They also had:  

• an Accident and Emergency leadership/communication scenario 

• a visit to a care home 

• some experiences around Matlock to find out the issues for people with mobility, visual and hearing difficulties 

• an exercise on the influence of the town environment on mental health 

Through the talks students found out about all the unexpected bits of the jobs, and what they should consider if they want to apply.   As a midwife, Amy discussed how much of her job involves dealing with deprivation and mental health issues.  As a physiotherapist, Sarah talked about specialisms that she didn’t know about when she applied, like working with stroke patients or on respiratory wards which she found extremely motivating.  Having loved Maths A Level, she found that the problem solving skills when working out which parts of the brain had been affected in a stroke, to be a specialism she found rewarding. 

Two of the sessions involved giving presentations in order to prepare for interviews

A significant number of students were interested in jobs in design, marketing and the creative industries.   

We worked with one of our former students, Josh Woolley, who is now a lecturer in design at Nottingham Trent University to create a package for students interested in design, architecture and marketing.  This followed some of the principles of what Google call their Design Sprint, where they team up with a company to create a product in four days.    

Street furniture has transformed the appearance of many cities. Students looked at case study examples from London, Liverpool and Sheffield and evaluated them using empathy mapping and SWOT analyses. Josh coached students through a design process – helping them to think about how to sketch and then develop their sketches. He explored different materials they could use to build 3D models. Finally, by using examples from the portfolios of final year degree students, Josh showed us different ways in which they could photograph and present their work. 

Students then had a tour of potential sites, with Ken Spencer, Chair of Matlock Civic Association. For over forty years Ken has devoted time towards improving the appearance, image and amenities of Matlock. He talked with students about key themes in the history of Matlock, explaining the nature of the spa industry and the importance of the railway, but also less well-known episodes like its role in the planning of D-Day. At the same time, he talked through the complexity of actually achieving change. Matlock’s planning and approval processes are governed by three different councils and so, alongside creativity, students came to understand the politics of making things happen in the real world. 

During their four days, students planned and created models of their furniture.  They also looked at how businesses working in these sectors market their work. 

This was a chance for a group of students to spend time in Royal Mail’s Finance and Commercial centre in Chesterfield.  Students were given some time with senior managers from across different sectors of Royal Mail, giving them: 

• an overview of the business, the role of knowledge management and shared services 

• roles in procurement 

• work experience in finance 

• a look at roles in security, logistics, the green agenda, safety, international roles 

• understanding the Superhub (logistics) 

• walk-throughs of operations 

• understanding roles in revenue protection 

• roles in technology and coding (good for any of our students interested in computing) 

• advice on interviews, CVs, applications and AI. 

This package gave a great overview of a very large business and its operations.  The variety helped students to see which roles might suit them most, and how the roles impact on each other.  It also gave a sense of the kind of competition there is for jobs there.   

Some students wanted outdoor based work.  The activities for them included: 

• a day’s experience with the Countryside Service of Derbyshire County Council, tree cutting and managing sensitive heathland 

• a workshop with a manager from an outdoor activities centre, looking at qualification structure for outdoor jobs, the pros and cons of working in the outdoor sector, and some first aid experience 

• some time with a National Park ranger and an apprentice ranger looking at issues in the National Park and jobs available in it 

• a trip out to look at the management issues around Carsington Water 

• activities involving sourcing and planting seeds to help with the landscaping of a new environment 

Students interested in the police, law or other careers that branch out from criminology had a combination of experiences including 

• meeting a serving police officer, who is a former student from Highfields.  He talked about the issues that he has faced, the rewarding and challenging sides of being in the police and the support he has had from his team of colleagues.  It was interesting to see how quickly he had developed in response to the serious things he has had to deal with, within two years of leaving school. 

• listening to a talk on socio-economic deprivation, and dysfunctional domestic issues because these are issues which police and justice system careers need to understand and take into account; 

• work on some case studies 

• a workshop with a PCSO to think through community policing 

• look at some difficult cases which highlight the emotionally difficult side of this work 

• have a workshop on law (both generally and with some crime focus). 

We were extremely grateful to our friends at the Arkwright Society for their help in putting together a wide ranging business experience for 12 of our students.  The society runs Cromford Mills and other venues which are Unesco World Heritage sites. 

Chief Executive, Eilis Scott and Director of Commercial, Simon Wallwork gave us plenty of their time.  Eilis gave a presentation on the strategy of society – how they increase visitor numbers and improve visitor experiences.  This included an understanding of the different funding streams that the society works hard to increase.  Simon gave students insights about his own career background which included high level management at The Body Shop and Laura Ashley before running his own successful business.  He then talked about the operational side of the society and the practical challenges of staffing the business and improving its retailing and on-site offers. 

Students then had a tour to get a great sense of how the site is brought to life for visitors so that they witness the birthplace of the industrial revolution and the global impact it went on to have. 

Eilis and Simon then set the group two challenges.  One group had to look at improving customer experience in the museum section, including reviewing proposals made by a management consultancy with the plans and options for new interactive displays.  The other group was taken round the retail section and reviewed new plans for an overhaul.   Over the next couple of days at school, students worked on their responses and sent them back for review. 

Before going out to Cromford, we had a day of being ‘accountants’ and marketing analysts, where we examined the society’s accounts to see what we could learn from them, and reviewed their website to understand the values, marketing messages and strategies the society seemed to be employing.  We really appreciated the time and effort they had put into our experience, where they certainly went above and beyond. 

Alumni viewpoint 

Having looked at a local employer with Arkwright, we then went on to have a zoom session with a former student who is on a degree apprenticeship with Fujitsu and the University of Manchester.  This gave us insights into life with a multi-national tech company and what a day, week and month might look like for a degree apprentice.  Andrew gave a sense of how Fujitsu would work with major clients to help deliver IT projects and what accommodation and socialising is like when you also have a 9-5pm job. 

Having such great support from so many Highfields alumni really transformed the work experience week for us, and we are really grateful to them.