Transition Year work experience: a student’s guide

Work experience is one of the most useful parts of Transition Year. It is your chance to see a job from the inside before you choose your Leaving Cert subjects or a college course.

The NCCA’s Transition Year Programme Statement, which all schools use from September 2025, suggests work and community placements equal to two to four weeks across the year. That is a lot of time. This guide helps you use it well.

Start with your EirQuest career matches

If your school uses EirQuest, start with your report. EirQuest matches you to career areas, such as law, and to related careers, such as barrister or solicitor, including some you may not have thought of.

Use those matches to choose a placement that tests a real career idea:

1. Pick two or three careers from your report that interest you.
2. Read their WORKBRIEF career profiles in your Student Portal. What does a normal day look like? What qualifications do people need?
3. Think about where people do that job near you. A career in law could mean a solicitor’s office. A career in health could mean a pharmacy or a physiotherapy clinic.
4. Write down one question you want the placement to answer. For example: “Would I enjoy working with the public all day?”

A placement doesn’t have to match your top career exactly. Spending a week somewhere you are unsure about is also useful. Finding out that a job isn’t for you is a good result.

If you have more than one placement in TY, try different settings. Compare a big organisation with a small one, or an office with a job on your feet.

How to find a placement

• Ask your school first. Your school may keep a list of employers who have taken TY students before.
• Ask your family and neighbours. Ask who they know, not only where they work.
• Look locally. Shops, offices, farms, clinics, garages, libraries, sports clubs, councils and charities all take students.
• Ask early. Popular places fill up fast. Start asking at least a couple of months before your placement.

How to ask: an email you can adapt

Keep it short, polite and clear. Ask a parent or teacher to read it before you send it. Replace everything in square brackets.

Subject: Transition Year work experience request: [your name], [your school]

Dear [name of manager],

My name is [your name] and I am a Transition Year student at [your school] in [town]. I am interested in a career in [career area] and I would like to learn more about the work your [organisation / team] does.

Would you be able to offer me a work experience placement from [start date] to [end date]? My school will provide the details you need, including [any forms your school uses].

I am reliable and keen to help in any way I can. Thank you for considering my request. I would be happy to call in or talk on the phone.

Yours sincerely,

[your name]

[your phone number or school contact]

If you don’t hear back within a week, follow up once with a polite phone call. If they say no, thank them and move on to the next place on your list.

Garda vetting and safety basics

Garda vetting

Some placements involve working with children or vulnerable adults. Examples include primary schools, crèches, sports coaching, hospitals and nursing homes. For this kind of work, the law says an organisation must receive a vetting disclosure from the National Vetting Bureau before you start (Garda National Vetting Bureau FAQ).

What this means for you:

• Ask early whether vetting is needed. Vetting takes time, so a late request could cost you the placement.
• If you are under 18, a parent or guardian must complete a consent form for you.
• Your school or the organisation will organise it. Follow your school’s process and hand in forms on time.

Health and safety

Health and safety law protects students on work experience as well as employees. The Health and Safety Authority’s guide for students on work experience says employers must give you instruction, training and supervision, and must make their safety statement available to you.

On your first day:

• ask who your supervisor is and who to go to with a problem
• ask about the main risks in the job, and read the parts of the safety statement that apply to you
• learn the fire exits and the first-aid arrangements
• wear any protective equipment you are given, and use it the way you are shown
• if you are unsure how to do something safely, ask before you do it.

If you are ever asked to do something that feels unsafe, stop. Tell your supervisor, and then tell your school.

Your school’s forms

Your school will have its own process, such as a parental consent form or an employer form. The Health and Safety Authority’s guide also includes a sample checklist that teachers can give to students who find their own placement. One of its questions for the employer is whether students are covered by the company’s insurance policy. Hand in all forms before your placement starts.

What to do each day

Before you start: check the address, your start time, what to wear and who to ask for. Do a practice journey if you can.

Every day:

• arrive a few minutes early
• put your phone away unless you are told otherwise
• say yes to tasks, even simple ones
• ask questions when people have a moment, such as “How did you get into this job?” or “What subjects helped you most?”
• keep a short log at the end of each day.

Your daily log: write three lines. What did I do today? What did I learn? Did I enjoy it, and why?

On your last day: thank your supervisor. Ask if they would be willing to give you a short reference.

Reflect afterwards in the Student Portal

Reflection turns a week of work into learning. The Department expects schools to plan work experience with preparation, engagement and reflection (Circular 0072/2026).

Within a few days of finishing, record a reflection in your Student Portal. Use your daily log and answer these questions:

• What did a normal day involve?
• What did I enjoy most, and least?
• Which of my strengths did I use?
• Does this career still appeal to me? Why, or why not?
• What would I like to try next?

Then update your action plan. You can also add your reflection to your TY portfolio. You keep access to your Student Portal for life, so your notes will still be there when you apply to college.

Use what you learned for subject choice and the CAO

For Leaving Cert subject choice: if the placement confirmed a career idea, check the entry requirements for related courses on Qualifax. Make sure your subject choices keep those courses open. If it put you off, go back to your EirQuest report and look at your other career matches. See our guide to choosing Leaving Cert subjects.

For the CAO: CAO points come from your Leaving Cert results, and CAO applications don’t use a personal statement. So work experience won’t add points. What it gives you is better choices. You will know more about the courses you put on your CAO list, and why.

For later: your log, reflection and reference help when you apply for part-time jobs, for courses with interviews or portfolios, and for applications outside Ireland.

Want the whole TY picture? See our Transition Year careers programme.

Ask your guidance counsellor about EirQuest

EirQuest gives you career matches to build your placement around, and a report to reflect against afterwards. Ask your guidance counsellor about EirQuest.