Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

WORK EXPERIENCE IN THE LEAVING CERTIFICATE APPLIED 95So how did you get that one, say for example, how did youmanage that?Basically my auntie lives right on the road and she just had a word with themanager and said my nephew needs work experience for the LCA, can you dothat for him, can you give him something. (Maurice, 21, completed LCA,student)Rebecca obtained her work experience placement through familyconnections where a relative owned their own business (beautician) andthrough her sister who worked in the caring industry. Rebecca wasreflective on how she obtained her work experience placement andindicated that family linkages were beneficial to her when making contactwith the employer with whom she had the placement, particularly when theschool organised work placement did not work out:How did you find your work placement?Yeah, well I couldn’t get anything, and the teacher got me one up in the shoppingcentre, in a hairdressers and I went into it and they were very bitchy and I onlywent for one day and I didn’t go back to it because all I was doing was standingon my feet all day doing nothing. That’s when I went into the nursing home, mysister worked in there and it was only around the corner from me house, so it wasbetter…(Rebecca, 21, dropped out of LCA, home duties)6.4.3 OWN INITIATIVEA further distinction could be made between those who used their familyand friends to enquire about a job for them, and those who took theinitiative to contact the potential employer directly. This was particularlyevident among LCA students who knew what they wanted to do afterleaving school. For example, Graham, who was interested in the trades,called into a neighbour to get his experience in plastering:How did you find that placement?See I lived in an estate and there was one of the plasterers I knew, lived three orfour doors down from me and I went down.You just knocked into him?Yeah. (Graham, 22, completed LCA, apprentice)Graham indicated that the school made students get their own workplacement and felt that getting a job by himself was the most beneficial wayto go about job searching:So it was always up to the student to make connections withemployers?It was up to the student, yeah.And did most people sort themselves out with placements?Ah they did yeah, because like, at the end of the day if you’re not looking for ajob yourself and you get the school to look for it you’re just going to make an eejitof yourself in the workplace, getting someone else to get you a job like, it doesn’tlook good. (Graham, 22, completed LCA, apprentice)Niamh had five work placements in all and used different approacheswhen searching for each of her work experience placements: