Work experience for health careers

Work experience is invaluable to demonstrate your motivation and to develop the skills needed to work in a healthcare setting. If you want to work in the NHS, knowledge and understanding of the NHS values is a key requirement, recognising how your chosen role fits into the context of current local and national healthcare provision. For many roles experience is essential, due to either the complex or the competitive nature of the area.

As many roles in health involve working with patients and service users, any experience you gain supporting people is particularly important.

What does ‘experience’ include?

Experience can include part-time work, internships, volunteering, shadowing (or observing), in-programme projects, and much more. E.g. If your course includes the chance to do a short or long placement, you could aim to complete this in a health or clinical setting. Similarly, you could use module choices (including UCIL), projects and dissertations to build knowledge and skills in your target area.

Tailor the experience you aim for to your personal goal. E.g. do you want:

  • Experience of a healthcare setting? Contact the department manager at your local hospital and ask if you can undertake a placement or spend time shadowing a qualified professional.
  • Experience of working with a client group or topic? Identify organisations/departments that work with that client group or specialise in that topic, some may have part-time or volunteer roles that work for you, if not, you could ask to observe.
  • Experience to develop your skills? Use job profiles and skills audits (our skills development tool is linked here) to identify the skill you want to develop. Then use the links below to identify which opportunities would give you those skills.

Work experience for further study

For clinical/allied professional training courses, admissions tutors will look for evidence that you understand the core NHS values and how your chosen role fits within the context of contemporary local and national healthcare issues. Some courses may expect a minimum period of work experience before you apply.

For courses like Physician Associate Studies, you will need to demonstrate that you have the skills to balance academic study with clinical placements and are willing to travel and work flexibly during your training.

Evidence of voluntary or paid work experience in a clinical or healthcare setting (e.g. healthcare assistant or care home) is valued, but any work or volunteering in a caring setting will strengthen your application. Arrange to visit hospitals, hospices, clinics or health centres, and talk to health professionals directly about their roles.

How do you find experience opportunities?

An effective jobhunting strategy involves both looking for advertised vacancies and taking a more direct approach – identify what it is you want to do, research which organisations are responsible for delivering it and then check if they have any opportunities.

Generally, across healthcare roles, it is invaluable to get insight into the departments you are interested in. Some departments may have opportunities in research or in work experience. If not, don’t be disheartened, reaching out directly to enquire about shadowing, work experience or a conversation can be very fruitful. This is called a ‘speculative application’. Use websites, contacts through your course or LinkedIn to identify a relevant department, and if possible, someone who works there to get in touch with.

Opportunities during your degree

If your course includes the chance to do a short or long placement, you could aim to complete this in a health or clinical setting. Similarly, you could use module choices (including UCIL), projects and dissertations to build knowledge and skills in your target area.

Here are some other suggestions:

Other ways to find healthcare work experience

Clinical / hospital / NHS experience

Training for many healthcare roles takes place within the NHS, so ANY opportunity to gain experience within or allied to the NHS will be helpful.

Many NHS trusts have someone who coordinates work experience and volunteering opportunities. Start early, as it can sometimes take time for applications to be processed. E.g. Volunteers – Manchester Foundation Trust

One tip is to look for advertised jobs in your target department or specialty and find the name of the recruiting manager in the job listing. This will often be the head of department, the same person you would need to approach for work experience.

Look for part-time jobs as a healthcare assistant or support worker whilst studying (some hospitals employ casual/‘bank’ staff). Later, full-time roles in assistant or practitioner jobs can provide an entry point into a profession and/or experience to apply for further postgrad training.

Many trusts employ staff under the ‘NHS Professionals’ banner – these are often fixed term or casual opportunities, some may be in office roles, but others may be in tech support or patient facing roles.

Consider joining one of the many public and patient voice initiatives run by the NHS. NHS England » How to get involved

Take part in NHS clinical research and talk to the researchers involved. Be Part of Research

Tip: Many students start by looking for experience at Manchester University Foundation Trust as it is close to the university. To increase your chances and reduce competition, consider other hospitals/hospices in the Greater Manchester area (NHS England » North West region, Hospices near Manchester - CQC)

See also:

Working with specific client/patient groups

Some specialties will mean you spend most of your time supporting specific groups e.g. audiologists and young children/the elderly. You may be supporting people with physical and mental disabilities.

You may also need to be comfortable providing intimate care and dealing with bodily fluids. Work experience can help confirm whether you can deal with this aspect of the job and that you appreciate the importance of patient dignity.

Teaching Assistant in a special educational needs (SEN) environment. This could be in a mainstream or specialist setting.

Support for neurodivergence and mental health varies regionally and may be provided by organisations external to the NHS. Social Work Assistant roles can be useful to get experience supporting people with complex needs.

Volunteering/paid opportunities

Tip: Local authority websites often list services for residents, including health and wellbeing services. E.g. Manchester City Council’s Health and Wellbeing directory.

Virtual Work Experience

Virtual work experience, also referred to as online, remote or digital experience, provides the opportunity to gain experience from home. It can help you to develop your skills, boost your employability and explore new industries and job roles. It's a unique opportunity for you to try out a career at your own pace and in your own time, from the comfort of your home. Most virtual work experiences range from a few hours to a few days, but some may last longer depending on the nature of the work experience.

You can find out more about virtual work experience here, and below are some that are particularly relevant to healthcare careers:

  • SpringPod has various virtual healthcare experience options including clinical and allied health roles
  • Shortlist.Me (the interview simulation tool) also includes ‘work simulations’, including NHS Healthcare, NHS Management and NHS Policy & Strategy.
  • The Royal College of General Practice has an online resource, ObserveGP, that gives insight into General Practice for any UK-based person aged over 16.
  • Brighton and Sussex Medical School offer a virtual work experience course.