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Many schools encourage students to find their own placements, but you may be offered help with this. There is a lot of competition for some placements so think about planning something quite a bit in advance.

Your school or an organisation called The Exchange will usually make sure all the paperwork is filled out correctly and that the workplace is carefully checked for health and safety compliance. But you will be involved in deciding what sort of area you'd like to spend your placement in, and what you'd like to achieve during your time there.

Things to think about

• Think about the subjects that you're studying and the sort of career you would like to follow in the future.
• See if your school already has links with a company that closely matches your needs. If they don't, they may be able to set up new links with a company - but this takes time, so make sure you mention it early on when you're planning your placement.
• If you want any extra advice- or you'd like to discuss exactly what happens during a placement talk to a careers teacher or adviser, or someone at your local Connexions office.