Work experience in an architectural practice provides a valuable opportunity for students to gain some insight into the daily activities of an architect and into architecture as a potential career.
Students usually have no experience or preparatory training prior to their placement, but they can still be given the opportunity to be involved in appropriate architectural activities during their placement.
Planning for work experience students
- Consider designating responsibility for supervising the work-experience student(s) and coordinating their placement time and activities to a particular member of your architectural staff.
- Provide an elementary induction to the office, including hours of work, location of toilets, kitchen and lunch facilities, introduction to staff etc.
- Show the student the office quality policy statement (if applicable). This will spell out the aims of the practice in terms of the service it sets out to provide.
- Explain the office management and practice procedures which guide the method in which the office operates.
- Consider a program of activities for the work-experience student.
- Set a limit to the number of work-experience students/placements your practice is prepared to offer for the year. This will ensure that you are not overloaded with students and that those who are offered placements will get quality attention.
- Ensure your public liability policy is current. While the school's insurance generally covers students, schools expect workplaces to have public liability insurance – you may be asked to provide the student with the policy number. Refer section on insurance cover below.
- Explain the occupational health and safety procedures in the office, including location of meeting points in the case of a fire or other emergency, evacuation procedures, location of the first-aid kit and the equipment required for site visits such as hard hats, work boots, etc.
Insurance cover
School aged or university students undertaking work-experience placement may not be covered under WorkCover in the event of an injury. While some education providers (schools, colleges and universities) provide insurance for students during placement, practices are encouraged to contact their state WorkCover provider and the student’s education provider to confirm, prior to placement commencement. If cover isn’t provided, seek clarification of cover for work-experience students from your public liability insurance broker and, if required, request that the insurance policy be extended to include the student where possible. Alternatively, students can take out their own policy which generally covers them for 12 months in various offices.
Selecting work-experience students
Some offices are inundated with requests for work experience from secondary school students and may need to implement strategies for allocating placements.
Ask students to attend a short interview. While this can be time-consuming, it will identify those who are genuinely interested in architectural practice and it will also highlight those committed to the interactive program of activities which you are planning for them. An interview is an opportunity to discover the student's academic strengths and shortcomings, the reasons the student is interested in architecture as a potential career and whether the student has any particular areas of interest or expectations of the placement. An interview is also an opportunity for you to make clear your expectations of the student.
Ask the students to write you a short letter outlining their interest in exploring a career in architecture, including four things they hope to get out of the placement period, what subjects they are currently studying, what placement period they are looking for and their contact details.
Irrespective of which method is used for selecting students, the following information should be communicated to the selected students:
- start and finish times
- breaks and lunch
- dress code
- whether they will need to wear specialist or protective clothing
- where they should report to on the first day of their placement
- who they should ask for when they arrive at the practice
- whether you expect them to bring anything with them.
Reimbursement
In some jurisdictions, reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses must be paid to work-experience students. Check your state or territory laws for details.
Further resources
Australian Institute of Architects (2020), Suggested program of activities
Disclaimer
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