Almost two thirds of people who have undertaken work experience said that it helped them choose their future career direction.

In a Tickbox.com survey commissioned by Edexcel, 26% of UK adults said that they chose their career based on their work experience, while 37% said that work experience had helped them to decide what they did not want to do.

The same survey revealed that around eight out of ten people (79.6%) had found their work experience placement worthwhile.

Work experience led to career in that field:
One student said: “My work experience has led to a really good job.  Having got a week’s work under my belt last year, I was confidence enough to walk in and get going straight away. I felt comfortable in the job and knew what was expected of me. I’m really thrilled they’ve offered me an apprenticeship and I can’t wait to get going.”

Work experience led to the decision to take another direction:
One parent said: “My daughter was keen to pursue a career in forensic medicine.  Of her own initiative, she arranged to do a work experience stint in the pathology department at a local hospital.  However, whilst she found her placement interesting, it made her realise that she didn't want to take that particular path; she reassessed her A Level choices, did a second placement at a London solicitors and is now enjoying her first year as Law student.”

Jerry Jarvis, Managing Director of Edexcel, said: “I didn’t have the opportunity to do work experience, but I believe it forms a vital part of young peoples’ development.  In addition to increasing their employability skills, it could be extremely beneficial for students to make an informed decision about the area in which they wish to progress their learning before they embark on higher education.”

Trident Trust, the UK's largest national provider of work experience for students aged 14-16 years, recently became part of Edexcel.  Through Trident from Edexcel, over 130,000 students from over 2,000 schools each year have the opportunity to gain an internationally recognised BTEC qualification, and to gain a placement with one of 90,000 companies who offer student placements.

Trident has DfES accreditation as a provider for e-learning credits on their basic skills programmes and has launched Enterprise programmes which support entrepreneurship in young learners.

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