Work experience

Transition Times: One of Ireland's star pupils, the 600-point-scoring Ruth Borland, puts her success down partly to transition year.

The Dublin teenager, who has just taken her place on University College Dublin's actuarial-and-financial-studies programme, learned in transition year that she was not cut out for a career in law and that her true passion was finance. How did she do it? She made the most of her work-experience module.

"I always wanted to study law," says Borland. "In transition year I got a work-experience placement in the Law Library and in a solicitor's office - and I loathed it. Later in the year I did a mock interview with a stockbroker, and when he described his work to me I realised that business was my strong suit."

Borland refocused her efforts and took all three business subjects for her Leaving. Six hundred points later, she credits her work experience with putting her on the right track.

Unfortunately, many transition-year students miss this opportunity. Even though each transition-year programme is totally different, depending on the school you're in, the work experience module is offered to everyone.

A recent study of transition year by the Economic and Social Research Institute identified two approaches to work experience common among transition-year students.

"There are two kinds of work- experience student," says Emer Smyth, one of the report's authors. "One student will try and find a placement in a job that she is truly interested in as a career. Another student will pick up a 'part-time' job which she hopes will turn into a paid job after the placement."

Part-time work is great for a bit of extra cash, but it's only work experience if it gives you the opportunity to sample a career you're interested in long-term. If you have an ambition to work in a clothes shop or petrol station - in other words, have a career in retailing - after you leave school, then such a part-time position might be very useful.

If you dream of being an architect, a nurse or a photographer, however, you'll learn a lot from a stint on the job. If nothing else you might learn, as Ruth Borland did, that the job is not for you after all.

Every week in Transition Times we will look at different careers and how to go about getting work experience in their areas. We'll chat to professionals in a range of fields, from pharmaceuticals to media to architecture, about what to look out for on the job. Next week we'll delve into the world of advertising and marketing, with luck helping you to find work experience that really works