Nothing beats the excitement of the end of the semester after the exams are over, especially in summer when there are weeks and months of holidays. Beyond vacations, many students are particularly looking forward to their first or maybe next best summer work experience.
If you are currently a sixth-form or university student who is looking for some ideas on what jobs to apply for across different sectors, this article is for you!
👨⚕️ Healthcare: Allied Health Focus and Patient Care
If you are passionate about healthcare and interested in life sciences, there is a wide range of work experiences (also known as work placements) that you can explore during the summer holidays. Among them, the three most common summer work experiences that students can consider include:
Students get to observe the daily operations of a healthcare professional to record what is happening, to help understand the diagnosis and the right treatment.
✅ Hospital volunteering:
Students offer assistance to patients and visitors, for example, during mealtime and visit hours, as well as help out with basic administrative tasks.
✅ Internships:
Students can be a part of data research, data collection, and analysis when it comes to different fields such as physiotherapy, public health, radiology and so on.
✅ Examples of places which offer allied science work placements
St George's University Hospital
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Important note: Clinical shadowing and hospital volunteering are typically open to students who are in Year 12 after completing their A-Level studies, whereas internships are usually offered to students who are already in university. Additionally, these three working options are typically unpaid but offer certain reimbursements in the form of travel fees or meals (depending on the organisation).
Working in the allied health field during your summer holidays can help you develop your empathy and communication skills as you understand what it means to care for those who need medical attention.
You'll learn how to do proper documentation for medical records and reports, as well as learn the right diagnostics and treatments for different cases. All these skills and experiences will come in handy for those who are considering a career in the allied health industry.
📊 Business & Finance: Hands-On Corporate Environments
Next, let's explore some work experience opportunities that students in the UK, whether in high school or at university, within the business and finance sector. This sector includes areas such as banking, investment, accounting, auditing, financial technology (Fintech), insurance, marketing, and management consulting.
Students aged 14 to 19 can immerse themselves in the industry for a few days through a mix of virtual and in-person workshops held at the organisation’s office, where they shadow colleagues and participate in group projects.
☑️ Summer Internships/virtual internships:
Internships are mostly offered to university students in their penultimate year (the year before their final year of studies). It is usually between 8 to 10 weeks, depending on the organisation.
☑️ Part-time work:
Some students may prefer flexible employment duration, where there is no fixed end date. For instance, they may want to work in a university as a student ambassador for the recruitment and marketing team. If their performance is well-received, they could even work beyond the summer holidays and continue for each semester.
☑️ Examples of places which offer work experiences:
HSBC UK
JP Morgan Chase
Santander UK
Do you know that many students in the UK (from 15 to 18 years old) choose to enrol in entrepreneurship summer schools during the holidays, despite them being unpaid? That's because they want to learn directly from industry mentors and master important skills like pitching ideas and formulating business strategies before deciding if entrepreneurship is the right path for them.
Some examples of entrepreneurship summer schools include The Entrepreneurship Summer School by London Business School and The Young Entrepreneur Summer Experience by InvestInEducation.
Working experience in the business and finance industry can help cultivate a strong foundation of hard skills and soft skills in the corporate world. You'll get to see the connection between the theoretical knowledge of what you have learnt in the classroom, and how they are applied directly in real-world problems.
Additionally, you can also build meaningful connections through networking with industry professionals, who could potentially be your future colleagues or employer during your first-year internships.
📸 Creative Industries: Building a Portfolio in All Things Media
If your passion lies in creating something in the form of physical or digital art, then you should certainly look into summer work experiences in the creative industry. Some common subfields of the creative industry include advertising, broadcasting (TV, film, radio), publishing, fashion, animation, art and design, and many more.
Students aged 16 to 18 can explore various unpaid taster programmes at big organisations to explore various career paths. The duration of these programmes can range from a few days to a week. Take note that most shorter paid work placements are usually offered for students above 18.
✅ Internships/virtual internships:
Many internships in the creative industries are targeted towards final-year university students (as a prerequisite for graduation). Throughout the internships, students can contribute to projects according to their major. For instance, advertising major students can be assigned to craft creative captions to boost the engagement rates of a social media campaign.
✅ Part-time work/volunteering:
For paid positions, students can look for positions like assistants or ushers at organisations like art museums or media agencies. If you are solely looking for working experience, you can opt for more diverse volunteering roles for one-time events like book fairs, music festivals and so on.
✅ Examples of places which offer work experiences:
BBC
Sunderland Culture
University of the Arts London
At the end of the day, the most important outcome of your summer work experience in the creative industry is to build a robust and dynamic portfolio that not only reflects your skillset but also your personality. Whether you choose to compile them in a physical or digital folder, all of them should answer these two questions: What have you learnt, and what do your completed projects say about you?
A major benefit of this experience is that you get to participate in real-life projects under the supervision of experienced creatives in the field on a day-to-day basis.
Having said that, it's important to make the best of every opportunity to master the technical skills that are important in the industry, like video editing, social media curation, and storytelling, which is versatile across different creative projects.
Additionally, mentoring goes a long way to help many students transition and thrive in the creative industry, especially if you plan to create your own content (self-branding as a beauty YouTuber, for instance) or explore freelancing opportunities one day.
💻 Engineering and IT: Solving Problems & Crafting Solutions
Now, this is for our math and technology enthusiasts who want to explore various summer work opportunities in the engineering and IT industry. You'll notice by now that the types of summer work ideas are pretty similar across different industries, just with different job scopes.
These programmes offer an overview of the company or organisation (usually ranging from 5 days to a week), covering several different engineering departments, for example. Some companies offer work placements at multiple sites at the same time, so students can apply according to their locations in the UK.
☑️ Summer Internships/virtual internships:
Students who opt for more flexibility through virtual internships in engineering and IT usually visit the Springpod platform to access more resources.
☑️ Part-time work:
If you love teaching, you could even become a home tutor or online tutor in engineering or IT subjects. For example, you can become a coding tutor at a tutoring platform like Superprof UK.
☑️ Examples of places which offer work experiences:
BAE Systems
Leonardo UK
Arcadis
At times, you'll notice that some summer work experience, like internships, offer payment but with a different calculation. Some go by the hour, while some have a pro rata indication. Pro rata is a Latin term which means "in proportion", which indicates a salary that is calculated based on the proportion of time worked.
Let’s say a job advert says:
💼 Salary: £25,000 per annum (pro rata)
📅 Contract: 10-week summer internship (full-time)
Even though the annual salary is £25,000, but because the summer internship is only 10 weeks (roughly 2.5 months), you’ll earn a proportion of that based on the total time worked.
Calculation:
£25,000 ÷ 12 months = £2,083.33 per month
2.5 months × £2,083.33 = £5,2083(pro rata salary)
Knowing this helps to avoid confusion when you are calculating the pay for short-term jobs like summer placements or internships.
📝 How To Write A Good CV for Summer Work Applications?
Whether you're a Year 12 student or in your final year of university, having a strong CV (curriculum vitae, which means the course of life in Latin) is essential to stand out when applying for summer work. From indicating your contact information, educational background, skillset, previous working experience (if any), achievements in school, and your personal statement, every word matters. Some students might even include their quotes from their referee (usually teachers) to show how they fit their job in terms of personality, work ethic and skills during their 2025 summer work application.
As the captain of his debate team, James demonstrated great leadership skills by leading them to be the first-runner up for the national debate competition in 2024.
Miss Hopkins, English language teacher
If you're not sure where to start or want to boost your CV with professional support, we've got you covered. At Superprof, you can hire an experienced CV writing tutor to help you craft the perfect CV that highlights your strengths and showcases your personality at its best.
Your CV writing tutor will not only teach you the right CV template (in terms of format and language) but also offer you advice on how to tailor your CV according to different organisations (if you have multiple applications).
Once you have indicated your desired subject and current location, you can start browsing a wide selection of tutors to review their details, such as their experience, qualifications, online reviews of past students, and hourly rates. After that, you can book your first lesson with them through the messaging feature via their profile.
We hope this article has offered you a comprehensive insight into the top summer work experiences as a student in the UK. Let's make every work experience count!
🤝 Key Takeaways: Summer Work Experience and Benefits
- The healthcare and allied health industry offers diverse and rewarding career paths for those interested in helping others.
- The business and finance industry provides a wide range of opportunities in management, accounting, and financial services.
- Creative industries allow individuals to explore careers in design, media, and the arts, combining passion with innovation.
- Retail and customer service roles develop valuable communication and problem-solving skills useful across many sectors.
- A good CV is essential for making a strong first impression and increasing your chances of securing interviews.
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
