Queen Mary’s College’s first-year students took part in a successful and wide-reaching Work Experience (WEX) programme, with over 500 students completing meaningful, in-person or virtual placements.
These placements took place across a broad range of industries in organisations such as Google, Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, Barclays, Bloomberg, Herbert Smith Freehills, National Trust, IBM, National Film and Television School, John Hanson Community School, England Hockey, Basingstoke and Deane Council, GKN Aerospace, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and the Metropolitan Police Service.
Why Work Experience?
Getting involved in work experience gave students the chance to explore potential career paths, develop essential employability skills, and build confidence in real-world environments.
A further 225 students completed an online training and skills programme provided by the Youth Employment Agency, ensuring that all students gained valuable experience during the week.
Along with QMC’s Social Action Project, which saw first-years raise over £30,000 in just three days, QMC is committed to preparing students for life beyond college. We’re incredibly proud of the engagement and independence shown by everyone involved across both college-wide initiatives.
What did students gain?
After completing their work experience placements, students reflected on their time in the workplace, considering the lessons they learned and what they gained from the experience. While each student had their own personal journey, clear benefits emerged as common themes across their feedback.
Professional Growth and Real-World Skills
Students frequently mentioned how they learned to adapt to professional environments. For many, this was their first experience in an office setting or formal workplace. While the nature of professional environments varied depending on the industry and job role, the core skills demanded within workplace contexts proved remarkably similar across sectors.
Working effectively in teams and managing responsibilities were two of the most prevalent skills highlighted by students, with many noting how these abilities developed naturally through daily workplace interactions.
One student reflected: “This placement has been my first contact in an office environment. Through this I have learned the importance of improving my own skillset to become a valuable member of the team. I have also understood the skill of timekeeping and prioritising tasks in an environment that relies heavily on expert time management and handling multiple tasks at once.”
Another student noted how the experience “helped me to understand the collaboration and teamwork required in business to ensure efficient decision making.”
Confidence and Personal Development
As work experience presented a new setting outside the familiar school and college environment, students expressed significant growth in their confidence levels. This was particularly evident in their ability to communicate effectively with different people and in developing their leadership capabilities.
Many students reported feeling more self-assured when interacting with colleagues, supervisors, and other professionals, describing how they gradually became more comfortable expressing their ideas and taking initiative in workplace situations.
As one student enthusiastically shared: “This placement boosted my confidence. I went from just using websites to understanding how they work! Professionally, I learned how to solve real problems, like fixing product listings. Personally, it taught me to ask better questions and work more independently. Plus, seeing how businesses run online makes me way more excited about a digital career!”
Understanding Careers and Future Planning
The confidence boost wasn’t just limited to personal abilities – students also gained confidence through their growing knowledge of job functions, industry niches, and organisational structures. This deeper understanding helped students clarify their career interests and develop a more realistic picture of different job roles.
Several students mentioned how the experience either confirmed their career aspirations or opened their eyes to new possibilities they hadn’t previously considered, making their future planning more focused and informed.
One student explained: “This experience has helped me with my future decisions on what I want to do educationally and as a potential future job. It’s also helped me gain a lot of experience on how to act in an office environment. The exposure into the industry has helped me understand it better and what particular sector would work best for me.”
The impact was particularly clear for students who discovered their career path, with one stating: “I have grown personally and professionally in the past 3 days. I was able to interact with people, ‘shadowing’ them and asking questions as they performed their regular duties. I know I definitely want to be an accountant after this experience.”
Others found renewed motivation: “It’s made me more proactive in terms of wanting to do things. I feel like I would like to work here after college” and “It’s shown me a few options that are out there that I didn’t think about before.”
The breadth of learning was evident in one student’s reflection: “This experience has given me the understanding of how a business works from management, accounting, purchasing, sales and working in the workshop. It’s amazing what you can do with your hands.”
Working With People
Beyond collaborating with colleagues within their placement organisations, many students developed valuable skills in communicating and adapting their communication style with external stakeholders and clients.
This was particularly notable for students who completed their work experience in educational or childcare settings, where navigating interactions with children stood out as both a valuable and sometimes challenging experience that required them to adjust their approach.
Students expressed genuine appreciation for their workplace relationships, with one saying: “It’s been a fantastic couple of days all thanks to the amazing people I got the chance of working with. It’s been really educational and I’m so glad they agreed to take me on for this placement!”
Those working with children discovered new dimensions to professional communication: “The level of patience you need to work with children surprised me—but I learned a lot.”
Overcoming Real-World Challenges
Facing challenges is an inevitable part of daily life and especially prevalent within work environments. By applying themselves in these real-world settings, students successfully overcame various hurdles, whether practical challenges such as equipment limitations and resource shortages, or personal challenges such as overcoming public speaking nerves.
Work experience exposed students to problems they may face in their future careers and pushed them outside their comfort zones early on, helping them anticipate and better handle similar situations in the future. This early exposure to workplace challenges proved invaluable in building resilience and problem-solving skills that will serve them well in their career journeys.
As one student reflected on their personal growth: “It’s helped me to be more optimistic about the outcome of situations and to not give up as easily and to find another solution as efficiently as possible.”
Looking Forward
Director of Learning, Admissions, Progression and Engagement, Victoria Renault, commented: “Seeing our students step confidently into the world of work this July was a real testament to their ambition and resilience. Whether through placements or online training, every student took a valuable step forward—and that’s exactly what our WEX programme is all about: building confidence, growing skills, and helping young people take ownership of their futures.”
Queen Mary’s College remains committed to providing students with meaningful opportunities to develop professionally and personally, preparing them for successful transitions into higher education and the workforce.
