We all have many opportunities, but limited capacity to pursue them. Make choices, focus your time and energy, so that you can submit your share of masterpieces to the greater good.
Kevin B. Rollins
This quote perfectly captures how students and young adults in the UK feel about choosing the right summer work experience, given the wide variety of opportunities available across different industries. In this article, we will explore the significance of choosing the right summer work experience aligned with your career goals, the differences between these work experiences, and why it’s worth taking on these jobs during your summer holidays.
🔍 Find the Best Summer Work Experience for Your Career Goals
First, let's look at different types of summer work experiences that you can consider in the UK. We'll give you an overview of them before diving deep into the specific work opportunities that you can apply for in the future.
✳️Placements/ Insights Events
- Short-term exposure to a workplace
- Caters to high school students (Year 10 to Year 12) to first-year university students
- Students may be assigned light projects or shadowing tasks for work placements
- Insights programmes are more observational and exploratory in nature
✳️Summer Internships
- Longer, structured programmes with real work in a professional environment
- Mostly open to penultimate year university students, in rare cases, first-year students
- Students may be assigned formal, more skills-based tasks by their supervisor (individual or group)
- Internships require more commitment and could often lead to career progression opportunities
✳️ Apprenticeship
- Combining on-the-job training with regular studies (long-term, as it could be for years)
- Caters to students who plan to focus on practical training rather than theoretical training (16 years old and above)
- Comes with different levels of certifications
- Paid work experience
✳️Part-Time Job/Volunteering
- The scope of the job range is wide and flexible, it could be anything depending on the industry
- Caters to students of any age who want to have direct work experience
- The duration can differ according to one's preferences
- Volunteering jobs are unpaid
👩💼 Summer Work Experiences and Placements For Students
Now, let's dive deep into what summer work placements and insight programmes entail for students in the UK. One of the biggest misconceptions of summer work experiences is that it's only applicable to university students. That's not the case, as students who are in Year 12 (preparing for A-Levels in Sixth Form or college) can gain some insights into the real working world through these programmes that are run by various organisations.
These opportunities are typically more common in structured industries such as finance and banking, law, healthcare, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
One notable example of an organisation that offers and for various age groups is HSBC UK. Let’s take a look at the characteristics of each programme that HSBC has on offer:
📢 Summer Work Experience Programme 2025 (HSBC UK)
Find out more about HSBC's summer work experience.
Important point: Not every summer work placement is paid, so it's best to check the official website for the latest remuneration details for successful applicants.
📢 Summer Socio-economic Mobility Insight Programme 2025 (HSBC UK)
Important point: Always check the official HSBC UK website for the latest recruitment details on the UK Socio-economic Mobility Insight Programme, including application deadlines and eligibility.
💼What To Expect For UK Summer Internship Opportunities
Next, let's look at different types of summer internships that you can apply for as a student in the UK. The duration of summer internships is a bit longer than summer work placements (ranging from 2 to 3 months) for two main reasons:
- To match the length of the summer holidays
- To give applicants a longer time to get a glimpse of the industry and the job position they are undertaking.
While most summer internships are offered to penultimate-year students (students in the second-to-last year of their degree), there is also an increase in internship opportunities to first-year undergraduates.
Most summer internships are offered to penultimate-year students because it's regarded as the best time to recruit the best interns for future employment before they graduate.
Additionally, this period (second or third year of studies) indicates that the students are equipped with some foundational knowledge that they can actually apply in a real-life work project or case.
💷 Availability of Paid Summer Internships
Another important thing to note is that the majority of interns are classified as workers, and are eligible to receive to be paid, where the amount is subject to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for your age range. The payment can be calculated per hour or pro rata.
However, exemptions are possible, depending on the nature of the organisations. For instance, if the organisation is a registered charity foundation or an NGO (which will usually be indicated in the job advert), they usually offer unpaid internships as they operate on a tight budget. Some of them do offer reimbursement for travelling and meal expenses, so it's best to double-check with the organisation before applying.
Types of summer internships:
📌Corporate
📌Legal
📌STEM
📌Public sector
📌Creative and media
📌Healthcare and medical
📌Start-up
📌NGO
Internship Tip: Maintain a good rapport with your assigned supervisor to make the best out of this experience in terms of acquiring hard skills and networking.
🏢 Apprenticeships: A Long-Term & Hands-On Pathway
Unlike work placements and internships, apprenticeships are not usually considered a popular option for summer work experience ideas among students. That's because it is often aimed at school leavers and those who are seeking to start a new career to get some practical experience and certifications. Additionally, the duration of apprenticeship training is longer (it can go up to 5 years, depending on the industry).
The minimum age to apply for an apprenticeship is 16 (for the lower-level apprenticeship scheme). Applicants must reside in England and must not be enrolled in full-time education at the time of applying.
🤔 University degree vs Apprenticeships
Many students in the UK tend to compare these two educational pathways after completing their GCSE exams. If they intend to pursue a university degree, they will usually opt to take the A-Levels qualification through their Sixth Form education or enrol in a college. On the other hand, students who are already certain of their career direction would prefer to gain hands-on experiences on-site with experienced professionals through an apprenticeship scheme and enter the workforce early.
Do you know that you can still gain an undergraduate degree or even a postgraduate degree through your apprenticeship training? It all depends on the level of apprenticeship that you undergo as follows:
| Apprenticeship Level | Equivalent Educational Level | Example of organisation which offer this apprenticeship level |
|---|---|---|
| Level 2 | GCSE | National Health Service (NHS) |
| Level 3 | A Level | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
| Level 4,5 | Foundation Degree | Rolls Royce |
| Level 6 | Bachelor's Degree | BAE Systems |
| Level 7 | Master's Degree | Ernst and Young (EY) |
Some major differences between these two educational pathways? Number one: You are paid or funded by your chosen organisation throughout the apprenticeship training. Number two: You will work during the weekdays and study during the night and the weekends under the apprenticeship scheme.
Number three: All the things that are covered during your apprenticeship training are specifically tailored to the industry and organisation, whereas what you study in university can cover other modules of electives apart from your chosen major.
💡 Why Should You Have A Summer Job Experience?
Now that you have reviewed these work experience ideas for students in the UK, you might wonder what is the next step. Perhaps the underlying question remains: Is a summer job experience really worth your time and energy, especially when it's supposedly a time for vacation?
Here are some advantages of having a summer job experience regardless of your learning level, the working places that you have chosen and interests.
➡️ Gain Confidence and Transferable Skills
Having solid working experience will help develop your confidence as you try out different things, such as meeting clients, presenting your findings in a workshop, or drafting a research report, all by yourself. Most importantly, you get to grow several transferable skills like communication skills, leadership skills, and data analysis and visualisation skills through software like NVivo or Power BI, for instance.
➡️ Explore Your Career Interests
A summer work placement and a summer internship serve as an amazing way to get a glimpse of what it takes to work in a specific industry. If you are a Year 12 student, you can take a summer work placement or an insight programme as an experience to weigh the pros and cons of working in the industry, especially if you want to align your interests with your actual work ability before choosing your major at university.
Likewise, for those who are applying for summer internships, you can view this as an opportunity to put what you have learnt in the classroom to the test when you encounter real-life projects and case studies and discussions with your fellow senior colleagues.
➡️ Boost Your CV and Future UCAS Applications
Any summer work experience will come in handy, whether it's a one-week summer work placement or 2 2-month summer internship, especially when you are preparing your CV or UCAS application. Remember, work experiences not only highlight your commitment towards a particular industry but also show future employers and universities the hard and soft skills that you have gained throughout the period.
If you need help writing your CV, you can hire an experienced CV-writing tutor on Superprof UK to make your application stand out for summer work opportunities. Through personalised guidance, you are bound to master the best way to highlight your achievements and secure a job offer before the summer holidays begin.
We hope this article has been insightful. May you make the right choice in selecting a summer job that aligns with your learning level and areas of interest, and may you reap the rewards of your investment in time and energy!
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