Early Careers - Work Experience

Work Experience

London Borough of Sutton offers work experience placements designed to provide individuals with an insight into potential careers, attract and recruit more young people, and boast a diverse and skilled workforce.

Our work experience falls into two main categories:

• Corporate work experience scheme placements - A structured, one-week placement offered to students exclusively through our partnered schools and sixth-form colleges. This is our primary, formal scheme.
• Volunteering - This can contribute to the completion of any Duke of Edinburgh (D of E) award you may be undertaking, and is a great way to get involved with your local community.

Corporate Work Experience (WEX) Scheme

Our corporate scheme is designed in partnership with local educational institutions to ensure a high-quality, supported experience.

• How it Works: This one-week, in-person scheme follows a structured schedule, beginning with a council induction. Participants are assigned to a team but also engage in development sessions covering areas like IT (Google Workspace) Training, Equality Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I), Political Awareness (Year 12-only), and Presentation Skills. Students typically meet with our Chief Executive and present back to their peers and managers on their final day.
• When it Runs: We aim to run this scheme annually in March (for Year 10 students) and July (for Year 12 students). We typically offer 20-30 placements for each cohort.
• Inclusion: As a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer, our scheme is SEND-friendly and provides ringfenced placements for our care-experienced residents.

How Students Participate

Participation is managed entirely through our education partners:

• If you are a student: Please express your interest to the Careers Lead at your school or college. It is the responsibility of our participating partners to delegate placements within the scheme.
• If you are a school or college: Please contact our Workforce Development Team on workforce.development@sutton.gov.uk to discuss partnership opportunities.

Ad-Hoc Opportunities

While our Corporate Work Experience Scheme is the main route for student placements, some staff may occasionally host informal ad-hoc placements for students. These depend entirely on team capacity. Interest in this opportunity would need to be submitted in writing to the desired team of placement. 

Observing Council Activity

We encourage anyone interested in working at the council to observe our live committee meetings, which are open to the public and can be joined in person or watched via live stream. You can find the schedule of meetings on our ‘Meetings, agendas and minutes’ page.

Volunteering

Find various volunteering opportunities on our ‘Find out about local volunteering opportunities’ page.

Further Enquiries 

For more information on our Work Experience schemes, and for schools/sixth-form colleges interested in participating, please contact the Workforce Development Team on workforce.development@sutton.gov.uk.