A regular spot in the school calendar is allocated to the mass exodus of students off the premises for one to two weeks for the purposes of gaining Work Experience.
I went through the process myself at age 16 but who, at that age actually knows what their vocation will be, apart from the Dalai Lama or those in direct succession to a throne.
The careers teacher at my secondary school had the attitude that she could have had any job she wanted but had obviously failed in that endeavour. Good motivational attitude there then. The school had longstanding links with local companies who in the distant past had expressed willingness to take on a pupil.Some of the associations were, from the list I was provided with, a bit out of date unless you had firm intentions of becoming a fellmonger, cordwainer or powder monkey.
Some employer attitudes were genuinely helpful. They had possibly been in that position themselves or were Old Boys of the school. Other employers simply saw it as one to two weeks of forced and unpaid labour. It was common for the work experience period to coincide with the impulsive ambition of proprietors to clean out the drains, gutters, litter and scrap strewn back yards or ancient dusty attics within the commercial areas of the town.
The choice of placement even to the unsure of mind could make or break the legitimate absence from normal school routine. The usual positions were with law firms, accountants, shop work, builders and in public service organisations. I was faintly interested in land and property so I was matched to a local firm of Surveyors, Valuers and Estate Agents. Dressed smartly I turned up at their town centre premises and was left sitting around for a couple of hours, blushing and getting in the way until one of the Partners asked if he could help, thinking I was a customer. The awkward moments of confirming by phone with the school that the firm had liability and responsibility for me for a week did not help my fragile confidence.
I was, by midday, allocated to the Drawing Office. The firm was very old fashioned but very traditional and covered all the disciplines required to service the landed and property interests of the county. My first period as an intern in the drawing office was a completely new experience. The Land Surveyor was designing a drainage scheme for an agricultural field out by the River Humber Bank in the wilds of Holderness. I assisted in clomping around in the muddy acres with a 3m tall red and white ranging pole whilst the surveyor frantically gesticulated where I should stand, stop, move, stop and so on for the rest of the day. At each point he took a reading of the level from his theodolite. The windy open field and an ever increasing distance between us made the scene quite comical. I returned home at the end of the day with a very ruddy and wind blown appearance.
The next day I was seconded to the Estates Management Department. I was provided with yet another 3m long pole but this time with a paint brush lashed to the top. My brief was to identify all dead trees in a wooded thicket on a managed farm and then paint on a white cross in a prominent position. This would enable a lumberjacking contractor to follow on and fell them. I stress that no training was given. The judgement of life and death in the hands of a 16 year old is both frightening and sobering. Even to this day, I cringe when I drive through that very area and see a large hole through an otherwise lush wooded copse. That was my lasting contribution to the landscape.
Day Three was with the Auction Department with some visits to the homes of the recently deceased to label chattels and with the Valuer identifying the more valuable artworks, silverware , furniture and valuables which would later be catalogued in a forthcoming Sale. In most of the empty and now rather depressing houses it would appear that relatives had already looted the best stuff or otherwise claimed it with a named sticky label.
Day Four was office based as the firm believed that I should have an insight into the administrative practices as well as the outdoor fun stuff. I suspect that the entire compliment of Partners and qualified Surveyors were away on a jolly at the races. I was during my confinement in the office heavily embroiled in the tittle tattle , rumour-mongering and downright bitchiness of the staff as they miraculously ran an efficient office and a poisoned personal life at the same time. This was perhaps my first exposure to the wonders of multi-tasking and using the firms phone for long private phone calls. These were of course the days well before social networking and texting but the world still revolved and managed as well without.
My final day was accompanying one of the Partners on what he explained was a typical working day. A valuation of a house for possible sale, a Survey of a terraced house for a mortgage loan, measurement of a garden in a neighbour dispute , discussion with a house owner of planning potential to demolish the lovely house and build an office park and checking the standard of workmanship on a large building project.
The week had been both interesting and engaging and did shape my actual course of education from therein towards my eventual career as a Surveyor. I had been fortunate in my placement. I did hear a horrendous story where a pupil expressed a preference to work with animals and the school secured him a weeks work experience in a Butchers Shop.
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