Council work experience

Thank you for your interest in work experience with North Tyneside Council.

Due to a high volume of applications, they are currently closed.

We believe that offering work experience opportunities is a keyway to raise the skills and employability of our residents. It’s not about where you’re from – but where you’re going.

Work experience is an opportunity to introduce (or reintroduce) people to the working life within the council with the aim of helping them secure and sustain employment. It’s about providing a variety of tasks and experiences that enables learning. 

Work experience is unpaid.  Placements can vary in length, but usually consist of up to one week, although longer placements can be arranged depending on an individual needs and circumstances.

Scope

Work experience can be arranged as part of a recognised work programme or a course of study.  To be eligible applicants must either live in (be residents) of the borough and/or be studying in North Tyneside. We prioritise those who might have experienced disadvantage and our focus is on:

• 16 – 18-year-olds who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET).
• Those who have not had paid work for a substantial period.
• Specific groups such as young people in care or care leavers.
• Young people with a disability and/or Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP)

 Procedure

To apply for a work experience placement, complete the online application form below.

The People Team will liaise with Heads of Service to identify opportunities that would be suitable for work experience.   

Benefits of work experience:

• hands on experience working alongside people who already do the job
• opportunities to explore a career area that interests you
• work related tasks which develop employability skills, such as communication, problem solving, time management and team working
• an understanding of employer’s needs, such as reliability, time keeping, punctuality
• real work experience to add to a CV and application forms when you apply for jobs and courses

There are always more requests than available places, but we consider all requests from North Tyneside residents. What we can offer depends on our resources available.

You can find information on apprenticeships here. 

What will I get to do?

What are you good at? What are you passionate about? Here’s your chance to gain some practical experience, try new work environments.  It will also enhance your prospects when applying for jobs with the authority and other employers.

It also benefits the authority as it helps develop a talent pipeline for current and future jobs, raises aspirations and helps bring more people out of unemployment and into work.

We provide a variety of work experience placements across a range of council services and wherever possible we seek to match an individual’s needs and interests.   

The purpose of this guidance is to:

• Promote work experience across the council.
• Promote best practice to ensure everyone who undertakes work experience with us gets a valuable opportunity, tailored to their needs.
• Clarify expectations and process of offering work experience thereby helping to promote a fair and consistent approach.

We are committed to equal opportunities and will provide opportunities where possible to:

• young people in care
• care leavers
• job seekers
• school/college students with limited work skills, knowledge, or experience.

To help us deal with your request it’s important you tell us what type of work experience you are interested in. We will then be in touch to confirm whether a suitable placement is available.

We can support you to develop work skills and knowledge by offering opportunities for unpaid work experience.

A placement will normally be:

• Full Time – one week
• Part Time – one or two days a week over several weeks

There are always more requests than available places, but when applications are open, we consider all requests from North Tyneside residents. What we can offer depends on our resources available.

We can offer placements in our below services: 

• Business Administration
• Catering
• Finance
• Sports and Leisure
• Horticulture
• Libraries
• Customer Service
• Legal
• Joinery/Electrical/Plumbing etc

For many, a placement is often the start of their journey with North Tyneside Council. if you've completed a work experience placement with us and are looking for your next steps, you could look at: 

• Employment with the Council
• An apprenticeship. All our jobs including apprenticeship are advertised on northeast jobs:  https://www.northeastjobs.org.uk/
• Further learning opportunities, guidance, and support.  Contact our Employment and Skills Team to find out more:  Employment & Skills North Tyneside – Courses for adults available across North Tyneside