What is work experience?

According to Collins Dictionary it has two meanings. The first is "experience of working". The second meaning apparently is more specific to Britain "work experience is a short period spent in a workplace, usually by young people, to learn what it is like to do that kind of work"

At school in year 10 at the end of the year we were expected to do a weeks worth of work experience. We had to say what job we wanted to the school and go through the motions of applying. We were expected to make phone calls, inquire about our hours and go work at a job to understand how the working world worked. At the time I had my heart set on being a chef so I ended up doing my work experience in a high end restaurants kitchen. I shadowed the chefs and learned a lot about many thing: I learned that despite the stress I enjoyed that kind of environment and that working with people you got on well with.

It wasn't until my final year a levels that I started gaining the actual "experience of working". I created my first CV and applied for a job as a pot wash at the daffodil hotel. The job was stressful and involved a lot of moving parts. My work had to be quick, satisfy the high standard the chefs had for cleanliness and I was expected to hop onto any job they asked of me. It was genuinely the hardest job I have had but it was worth it for the simple fact I learned that when push comes to shove and the pressure mounted up I would swim instead of sink. Despite the stress I managed to stick it out for roughly six months before I had to quit to focus on my exams: truthfully its not a job I would have wanted to do for much longer than that but it taught me the importance of a team working together smoothly and how to think on my feet when I had several tasks to juggle at once.

After A levels I took a gap year before starting university to have some time outside of education and ended up getting my first full time job where I had shifts to deal with, over time to work and money to make. I home shopped from 5am to 11am at a 24hr major supermarket chain. For my job I had to be on the shop floor, picking a certain amount of items while being timed and helping out customers: I am neither a morning person or a people person and yet in just under a year I became a competent home shopper. I juggled the fast paced nature of having to pick over 100 items an hour with the friendly helpful function of customer service I had to provide. We were expected to always have a smile, not appear too engrossed in our work in case we came off as unapproachable and always stop our pick to help out a customer. While I found this job easier than pot washing it still tested my limits and was no walk in the park. I found fast pick rates were hard to maintain while trying to help customers find items or check in the warehouse for them.

So in both senses I have experienced work. But on a deeper level work experience seems to be about learning. Its a period of time where you are creating a history of experiences that you can point to when employers ask for proof of your abilities. And that's why its so terrifying. Putting yourself out there can be scary but on top of that breaking into the market with little experience feels a lot like asking your employer to take a chance on you. You have to try and make yourself look as good and skilled as possible until your work can speak for you. So far my work tells you I am a dedicated worker who can juggle multiple tasks, work as part of a team and although I may not be the quickest when things get stressful I rise to the challenge to complete my job. That's what I have to offer a potential employer, that's my work experience so far.

Links:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/work-experience#:~:text=Work%20experience%20is%20a%20period,as%20a%20form%20of%20training.