Work experience.

The season is upon us… no, not that one, the work experience season.
We are being bombarded with requests from budding designers, marketers and advertising enthusiasts all willing to donate their time free of charge to gain a little knowledge in the real world away from education and theory, to grasp a more practical approach to what they have only experienced in a classroom. 

Revolting currently has two temporary additions to the team working with us in a voluntary capacity. Sarah, who graduated recently from the University of Gloucester where she studied advertising, has joined our team for several weeks in order to grasp some first hand experience of a busy design studio to see how design and good advertising can compliment each other so well. We also have Mack who is currently in Year 10 looking for a path to follow when that school bell rings for the last time.

For many, work experience is a valuable learning experience that they believe to be vital for pursuing their chosen vocation and embrace every piece of advice and knowledge wholeheartedly and store it away for future reference. Others unfortunately do not approach work experience with the same open mindedness and willingness to learn. When a mind lingers somewhere between boredom and frustration that they could be anywhere else earning some cash instead of experience, there is no point in wasting anymore valuable time. Sadly the phrase ‘flogging a dead horse’ comes to mind.

Lets take Charlie for example. Two years ago, he approached Revolting requesting some work experience through the summer. Charlie’s enthusiasm, willingness to learn and ability to accept criticism, as well as his obvious creative skill drew him to us and after his work experience was over and he had returned to college and then on to University we requested that Charlie come to work with us on several occasions working this time in a paid, freelance capacity. Now to ensure that he is not stolen from us, we have been very pleased to recently offer him the position of Junior Designer, which he has thankfully accepted.

We have had several student designers pass through our doors in a learning capacity, as we are always ready and willing to fill creative minds with knowledge and a foresight that only years of experience can muster, however not all of them had the same level of dedication that Charlie gave. 

I will take a moment to also ponder on this from an employer’s perspective though. Where do you draw the line between giving valuable experience and taking advantage of free labour? Some employers would see this as a golden opportunity to relieve their staff from a mountain of filing, tea making or something else equally as irrelevant to what the person seeking experience has requested. Thankfully many others are more than happy to devote some valuable time in relevant and insightful exercises. I guess that this is also something that needs to be learnt over time and with a little practice it will become easy to judge the capabilities of the person who is giving up their time to listen and absorb any ounce of knowledge they feel is significant to their future.

So, next time you receive that phone call or email from a person eager for you to teach them things they can’t learn in a classroom, take a moment to think about whether you are prepared to be a responsible and enthusiastic teacher or if you want someone to make you a cup of tea. In many cases the window of opportunity is small and we must be prepared to seize the opportunity, to pass on as much knowledge and experiences as we can manage, and to allow the Business Directors of the future to make similar choices on how to cultivate the promising talent coming through their doors.