Apprenticeships, work experience and volunteering

During the year we offer many individuals of different ages and abilities a variety of opportunities for voluntary work experience with our Services.

If you are a student or recent graduate, you may find the 'related links' at the bottom of this webpage of interest in your search for work experience.

If you have a disability, we are a ‘Disability Confident’ employer and are committed to providing work experience where we can.

The length of our placements vary according to the needs and interests of the individual applicant as well as the resources and workload of the department hosting the placement.

We continually receive a large number of enquiries about work experience/placements. All enquiries need to be e-mailed to hrservicecentre@colchester.gov.uk and include the details in the bulleted list shown below.

We consider each request on its own merits and offer opportunities to people where we can, but it is not possible to do so in every case. We currently are not able to help with work placements in legal, finance, museums or Colchester Leisure World.

The most frequently requested placements include:

• General Clerical
• Customer Services
• Environmental Health
• Park Ranger
• Events Management
• Communications and Marketing
• Planning Services
• Crematorium and Cemetery
• Human Resources
• Democratic Services
• Strategic Research
• Regeneration and Architecture

If you are particularly interested in an area not covered by the above list we are happy for you to contact us to demonstrate why you want to gain experience of this field and what skills you will bring to this role as we view work experience as a mutually beneficial arrangement. We will contact the relevant manager on your behalf in an attempt to secure you a placement.

To apply for a work experience placement please send the following details to hrservicecentre@colchester.gov.uk:

• An up-to-date CV with your full contact details.
• What career and/or Service area you want to gain experience in and the reasons for this.
• Why you would particularly like to work in local government.
• What you hope to gain from the placement.
• Timescales for your proposed placement.