Top Tips for Finding Work Experience
Finding work experience can be tough. Medical work experience is of course great, as it will provide an insight into the field. But, non-medical is also useful as it could tell you the non-medicine life is just not for you (or is for you, in which case maybe another course should be considered)!
It can be challenging finding work experience, especially if you don’t have any direct contacts. However, this does not mean it isn’t possible – you just have to keep your eyes and ears open more often. As someone who applied (many years ago), with nobody in my family who were in the medical profession – trust me it was still possible to get medical and/or dental work experience.
Here are our 4 top tips!
1. Find out the contact details of your local GPs, dental practices or hospitals
If they are nearby, then pop by and speak to reception – if you’re lucky they may ask a doctor or dentist there for you and it may get arranged there and then! Or, they could give you a name or number to then contact.
2. Find out the work experience coordinator at the hospital
Email the person in charge of organising work experience and
Your school may have relations with them – so check with your school first.
3. Speak to students in the year above you who had work experience
Ask students in the year above how they went about getting their work experience – they may guide you to the contact they used!
4. Write a cover letter and send out an email to as many places as possible
Write a clear and concise letter explaining who you are and why you would like work experience. This shows exactly what you want and applying in this manner also adds a level of professionalism to it.
Lastly, don’t just focus on medical work experience. Sometimes you learn the most from the skills attained for experiences that weren’t directly at a hospital or GP, but instead at a place where you interacted with the public more and developed your interpersonal skills.
We have devised a form that will make it easier for you to gather your thoughts during your work experience. This will also make personal statement writing much easier. Download our form for free on the “Work Experience” page under the “Application Guide” tab. If you need any advice with work experience or guidance on where to find it, please get in touch at hello@step2med.co.uk and one of our advisers can help you.
