Offer work experience
Work experience is a great opportunity for young people to gain skills and experience the world of work in your industry.
These experiences help young people to prepare for future jobs, as well as figure out what career route is right for them. But work experience doesn’t just benefit the young person on placement, it can also benefit your business.
How can work experience benefit my business?
- It helps team morale and provides a development opportunity for your existing staff if they support or mentor the young person.
- Offering work experience doesn’t cost money, it will take time commitment from you and your team but is a great way to see if someone is suitable for future employment.
- It’s good branding for your company, providing a good opportunity for a young person makes them more likely to consider roles in your organisation in the future. Not only that but offering these positive experiences can influence the way your customers see your organisation.
- It brings new talent and ideas into your organisation.
- It benefits your whole sector by preparing the future workforce.
What types of work experience can I offer?
Many schools will allow students to participate in work experience for 1 or 2 weeks in the school term. This is usually done in the summer of year 10, but this can vary depending on the school.
You may be approached by young people looking for bespoke work experience. You can be flexible in what you offer, it may be a couple of days or a programme your organisation has developed.
These are placements for one or two days per week over an extended period of time (a term/terms or over an academic year) subject to a successful interview. These opportunities are specific to a student’s interests and employers are sourced with a particular student in mind knowing their preferences.
This is an excellent choice for reaching many students, some of whom may struggle with travel and the costs of in-person work experience placements. Virtual work experience opportunities can be delivered be through videos, presentations, online workbooks or by hosting live sessions on specific dates.
If a young person can get hands on experience of a job that’s great, however, this is not possible in all industries. If this is the case for your organisation you could offer someone the opportunity to shadow a member of staff for the day to learn about what they do.
If you are open to having a group of young people come into your workplace you could hold taster days or tours.
How we can help
We want to support you in providing work experience placements, often working with a local school or college is a good place to start and we can help connect you with educational establishments in your area. We can also help:
- Discuss ideas for tasks/projects/jobs you can give young people to do whilst on their placement to support your business.
- Provide hints and tips for successful work experience and how to get the best out of the placement.
- Show you how to set up a timetable and share responsibility for the student so that teams can be involved rather than one individual or Manager.
- Provide resources to support the work experience placement.
- Explain how to support a wide range of students, including those with additional learning needs or disabilities.
- Help identify young people to participate in the work placement.
Safeguarding, health and safety
When taking on a young person for work experience it’s important to ensure correct procedures are in place to protect the young person and your business. When taking on a young person for work experience you may be asked for the following:
- A health and safety risk assessment.
- Employers’ Liability Compulsory Insurance covering students on work experience.
- Conduct Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks on any relevant staff if necessary.
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