Work Experience

  • The work experience program offers S6 students and S5 students the opportunity to have a real experience in a company or organisation. Work experience should not be mistaken for a linguistic, cultural or sport experience. Students are expected to work and complete daily tasks as decided by the employer.  Hours should cover a normal, full time working day.
  • All students who complete the Work Experience successfully will receive a Work Experience certificate assuming all administrative paper work is complete.  This can be presented to universities during the application process.
  • The 2019/2020 project week from 03/30/2020 to 04/03/2020 is dedicated for S5s to complete their work experience. We will support motivated students to make the most of their work experience, but we will not be able to search for companies likely to welcome them, given the number of students involved. As such, you should know that, even though we strongly advise that students complete work experience, we cannot impose it.
  • For S6 students who do not go on school trip during the project week of 30/03/2020-03/04/2020 Work experience or a language camp (not organised by the school) is mandatory.
  • In addition to the above options Work Experience is possible during the last week of school 29/06/2020-03/07/2020 or during holidays and weekends.

 

How to participate ? (2019-2020)

Insurance

  • All students participating to the program will be covered by insurance provided by the school.
  • Students can complete their Work Experience in all EU countries.  Work Experience placements in other countries might be authorised if parents/legal tutor absolve the Director of his responsibility related to the organisation and the follow-up of the work experience. Parents cover all costs related to transportation, repatriation, medical (hospitalisation regardless of the reason : sickness, accident,…)and declare in writing not to sue the European School for all matters related to a non EU work experience.

 Finding a company

  • Students are expected to find a company by themselves.  However, the project coordinator has a list including previous years’ locations for consultation.  That list is confidential and can neither be copied nor uploaded on the website. This can be consulted during designated meeting times.
  • So far, the students have chosen various areas for their work experience: medicine, journalism, translation, science, IT, zoology, administration, etc.
  • Spoken languages are mainly French and English but also Dutch, Spanish, German and others, as work experience can take place in an EU country. It can obviously be an opportunity to improve your language skills as well.

 

During the second term, some internships will be suggested to the school by Eurocontrol & ServeTheCityBrussels (charity work experience).  This list will be published in March/April and S6  students will then be allowed to apply (respecting the application procedures of the three institutions).

The project coordinators are available to help students with any special queries during the designated meeting times.

To write your resume, you can :

Work Experience administrative documents 

  • The following documents are part of the process of finding a company and must be made available in the personal folder of the student in O365 teams:
  1. Application letter/e-mail
  2. CV
  3. Contracts signed by Company, Student, School
  4. Work Experience report
  5. Work experience evaluation by the Company/Organization supervisor
  • Work Experience certificate will be delivered to each participating student assuming all administrative paper work is complete.

 

Work Experience Report 

All students will be expected to compile a Work Experience Report. This report must consist of :

front page with :

  • Your name, class, mail address, mobile number;
  • Place of work : name of the company/organization, address, name of the person responsible for the work experience and his/her mail address
  • Dates of the work experience

The report itself

(2 to 3 A4 pages) with :

  • A short summary of the company/organisation : company’s type (multinational, big, average, small or micro company) or organisation (humanitarian,  educational, medical, political,..), number of people, type of goods or services,…
  • A detailed description of the different daily tasks;
  • A personal feedback of the experience: what did I learn during this work experience ? Does this traineeship help me to make a better choice for my future (studies and job) ? This important report will be added to your school file and be precious for university applications.
  • Before 30th September (or earlier if you had your WEX during October, Christmas, February , Easter, May holidays)

 Any other question? Please contact Mr Hazan (FR) or Miss Whyte (EN).

 

 Why should you participate ?

  • To discover the professional world;
  • To check whether you clearly understand what your dream job is all about ;
  • It’s a great opportunity ;
  • To gain the necessary experience to apply to some universities.

Respect of « the behaviour code of the perfect trainee ! » :

  • Perfect punctuality : If you use public transportation, make sure that you arrive on time. During school holiday, train/tram/MTR/buses are less frequent and the schedule might change
  • Appropriate dress code : you are not going to the beach or night club ! Even if the temperature rises, wear decent clothes and for the girls, discrete makeup. A tie is not required for trainees.
  • A bit of foresight: some companies or organisations might offer lunch but, most of the time, you must pay for lunch yourself. Make sure that you have enough money with you, especially if your work experience place is far away from a cash machine
  • Respect of « savoir-vivre » rules : do not raid the biscuits box or the Expresso machine. Wait until someone offers you a soft drink or a snack before helping yourself… Be polite : thank, greet and use appropriate vocabulary…
  • And particularly, be curious, proactive, get interested in the way the company works overall, ask questions, concentrate when you have a rather complex task, discuss with your parents in the evening if you had a problem, create contacts with people around you,… and enjoy this experience so different from school !

 

OFFICE PRESENCE WORK EXPERIENCE

Mr Hazan (villa)                          Tuesday 10H35-10H55

Miss Whyte ( T101)                   Thursday 10H35-10H55