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Opportunities for young people

How young people can get work experience with us or start a career in the public sector through an apprenticeship, internship and graduate placement.

Start a challenging, varied and exciting career with Suffolk County Council at Rising High in Suffolk.

Rising High in Suffolk
As part of Raising the Bar, Suffolk County Council seeks to be “…an exemplar employer in supporting young people’s transition into work through the experiences it offers.”

Aims

Our aims are to:

  • provide paid and unpaid opportunities for young people to develop their skills and experiences of a working environment
  • improve the aspirations of young people within Suffolk or those who have come to Suffolk to study and support them into work
  • enable young people to make informed career choices and understand the types of jobs within the public sector

Rising High in Suffolk

As part of being an "exemplar employer", Suffolk County Council launched an initiative called Rising High in Suffolk in partnership with district and borough councils across Suffolk.

This is a website designed and developed by young people, for young people, who were initiated to support this activity. You will find information about opportunities at Suffolk County Council and its partners on this website.

Types of opportunity

Our opportunities are all advertised as they arise on the Rising High in Suffolk website.

Work experience

At Suffolk County Council, we want to support people to gain useful experiences of the world of work in order to help them understand more about the types of jobs people in our organisation do and make aspirational and informed career choices.

We are committed to providing quality experiences of work that are:

  • purposeful, relevant and really challenge you to think about your career goals and abilities
  • planned and supervised, so that your time is well spent
  • meet the needs of any academic program you are undertaking that the work experience is linked to (eg T-Levels)
  • clear about the roles, responsibilities and expectations of you and your placement host, and
  • reviewed at the end, providing feedback on your performance to help you to continue to develop your career and employability skills.

Work experience placements usually last between 1 and 40 days over periods of up to 1 or 2 weeks where it is every day or for example 1 day a week over an academic year.

Submitting a work experience placement

In 2024 there will be 2 routes you can take when considering submitting an application for work experience – ad hoc requests (which can be for specific placements and dates) or the new cohort approach – see below for more details.

New for 2024

In 2024 we will be trialling a new work experience scheme which will give Year 10 students the opportunity to learn about Suffolk County Council and the services that it offers. It will also be a great networking opportunity, mixing students from different local high schools.

The programme will take place 8 - 12 July 2024.

Based at Endeavour House in Ipswich, our new scheme will provide students with an overview of each Suffolk County Council directorate over the span of a week. These are:

  • Adult and Community Services
  • Children and Young People
  • Corporate Services
  • Fire and Public Health
  • Growth Highways and Infrastructure
  • Public Health and Communities

Registering your interest

Applications for our 2024 scheme is now closed.

Ad hoc requests

We will always do our best to find a placement but unfortunately, we cannot guarantee an offer of work experience or always accommodate preferred areas for everyone who applies.

We often receive large numbers of requests. In order to manage these and identify suitable placements please be aware of the following deadlines for submitting a request.

Dates and deadlines

 

When you would like work experience to take place

Deadline for submitting a request

May to August

30 January (from earlier in the same year)

September to December

31 May (from earlier in the same year)

January to April

30 September (from earlier in the same year)

Work experience request form

Download and complete a work experience request form You need to send your completed form to Rising.High@suffolk.gov.uk.

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships offer a chance to gain experience of the workplace, a relevant qualification and a salary while working for an employer who is willing to train and support you kick starting a career and helping to develop valuable, transferable skills.

Young people in Suffolk can search career pathways and find Apprenticeship and Traineeship opportunities on the YOJO Careers and Apprenticeship App

Internships

Internships offer twelve-week summer placements for undergraduates commencing June each year. These are paid at the national living wage.

T-Levels

T-Levels were introduced in 2020 as part of the post-16 skills plan – designed to enable students to put their theory into practice and bridge the gap between education and the workplace. Each T-Level is equivalent to 3 A-Levels in 1 subject. As part of the course students are required to complete a 45 day industry placement. 

Graduate traineeships

Traineeships offer graduates the opportunity to gain a broad experience of work in the public sector undertaking two 12 month placements over two years across the organisations while working towards an accredited business qualification. The salary will be £22,000.

Other opportunities

Graduate opportunities in social work, teaching and other professional disciplines, such as law, are also available. These are generally promoted at universities, through the media and on Suffolk Jobs Direct.

You will usually need to have studied a relevant qualification to be considered for these roles.

Read some case studies of members of staff that are on an apprenticeship or graduate scheme. 

Our commitment to supporting young adults

We are committed to providing opportunities to young people. We understand that young adults are the future of our organisation, therefore we are working hard to make our recruitment processes and workplace more inclusive by identifying and removing barriers.

We offer a variety of incredible experiences to young people to aid career progression and help develop different skillsets and improve knowledge.