Work Experience. Placements. A guide for employers BE PART OF IT

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1 Work Experience Placements BE PART OF IT A guide for employers

2 Contents Inspire Your Future Workforce 1 How Work Experience Works for Employers 2 How Work Experience Benefits Young People and Society 3 How to Provide Valuable Work Experience 4 Concluding the Work Experience Placement 8 City College Work Experience Placement Charter 10 Regulations Regarding Work Experience 13 If you would find it easier to read this guide in larger type or a different format, please call or info@cityplym.ac.uk employers@cityplym.ac.uk cityplym.ac.uk/employers

3 Inspire Your Future Workforce We hope that the information and practical advice contained within this guide will help you to understand the value of offering work experience. It will also support you in delivering a worthwhile placement for both our students and your business. The guide covers: how to carry out a work experience student induction what tasks a work experience student might carry out for your organisation how to review student progress how to conclude the work experience placement. Work experience works! It works for young people who get the opportunity to participate in the world of work and appreciate how to become productive members of the workforce. It works for employers who see work experience as providing a valuable talent pipeline into their business. It works for the wider economy and society as it brings more people into work and out of long-term 1

4 How Work Experience Works for Employers In addition to making a real difference to someone s working life, work experience can benefit an organisation in a number of ways: recruitment opportunities - providing work experience placements can be a great way to access the local labour market and explore a pool of talent that you may otherwise not have considered staff development - supervising and coaching young people on work experience can develop the capabilities of staff, especially those who do not normally have any line management responsibilities engagement in the local community - investors, the media and consumers tend to favour ethical employers who have a positive public image; work experience placements can enhance your image in the community by addressing some of the social issues related to youth unemployment employers@cityplym.ac.uk cityplym.ac.uk/employers

5 How Work Experience Benefits Young People and Society Work experience can enhance prospects and reduce youth unemployment by: breaking the vicious cycle that many young people find themselves in: they can t get a job because of a lack of experience and can t get experience because they can t find a job. The offer of a structured programme that reflects working life is crucial if young people are to secure employment providing constructive feedback and coaching, which will help young people to develop job-specific and sector-specific skills allowing young people to experience different job roles and organisational cultures, to help them make better informed choices about their future giving young people the opportunity to undertake job interviews and completing application processes, to improve their recruitment skills providing a positive experience of the world of work in order to build confidence and motivation helping young people to strengthen their CVs and develop a network of useful contacts. Working alongside experienced staff helps to improve communication skills and encourage professional 3

6 How to Provide Valuable Work Experience A young person entering the world of work for the first time may find the workplace iintimidating. They might not know how the workplace functions or appreciate how they should behave. Try not to overburden them on their first morning and give them plenty of time to digest any information or forms that you hand over. Is it necessary to give young people on work experience a full introduction to the organisation? For most young people, coming to work for you on a placement will be a new experience. At the start of the placement, it is good practice and beneficial to an individual s development for them to receive an introduction to your company and the workplace. This settling in phase helps the young person to feel valued. What should the introduction to the organisation contain? Providing an induction offers an opportunity to get to know the young person. It s a chance to discuss previous relevant experience, establish their goals, talk about each other s expectations, and allow them to ask questions. It should include: presenting an introduction to your organisation (covering things like its history, products and services, culture and values, and company structure) in addition to the names of staff that the student on work experience may need to contact a tour of your facilities, including: work areas; where they can get food and refreshments from (within the building or locally); the location of toilets, first aid facilities and fire exits; and evacuation procedures in case of a fire. Providing health and safety information is also a legal requirement employers@cityplym.ac.uk cityplym.ac.uk/employers

7 an overview of the role, covering what the young person is expected to do and the dayto-day duties that they will be responsible for, including any projects to be worked on allocating a buddy can also be a useful means of support, enabling the student to be able to ask questions in a more informal setting - this role should be carried out by someone who is keen to do it and who has a friendly and supportive nature. The College can provide you with a template to help with work experience induction. What tasks should they do? If work experience is to be mutually beneficial, it is important that the young person is given as much of an insight into the world of work as possible. Think tasks not tea! This is an opportunity to expose a young person to professional development opportunities and for them to practise skills that they can demonstrate to potential employers. Good practice is to offer them a miniproject. This could relate to an area you are particularly keen to get a young person s view on, or something they are likely to be interested in doing but is not business crucial for the employer. Please bear in mind that many of these students will have had limited exposure to working life and may have skills which require development. Work experience is about supporting an individual in developing their skills to increase their opportunities in the labour market. Identifying some work-shadowing opportunities and offering specific tasks to work on - with practical supervision but which offers scope for them to use their ideas or creativity - are effective ways to give the young person a real flavour of the world of work. How should I devise a suitable work placement plan? Ideally, you should prepare a full plan for the work placement, which can be adapted for each individual work placement. Preparing properly for a work placement is key to its success and smooth running, making it less resource-intensive for employers and easier to manage. An effective way to devise a suitable work plan is to consult colleagues to find out if they have any specific projects they feel an individual could contribute to and if they have some time to supervise and mentor the young person. The College can help you devise a plan, so please do not hesitate to ask us for support. Above all, we want to ensure that our students have a positive and encouraging experience in the world of work. Don t make assumptions and be as clear as possible about what is expected in terms of working hours, dress codes, 5

8 How closely do work experience individuals need to be managed? As young people on placements are new to the world of work, the way that they are managed is crucial. Good management and supervision will help them to develop more quickly, in terms of building up their confidence and realising that they can play a positive role. Do I need to appoint a mentor or a coach? You should ensure that a member of staff is supervising the young person during their placement. This member of staff could also act as their mentor, coach or buddy, and help them to adjust and respond to the needs of the workplace. A mentor can provide the student with advice and feedback. Try to select an employee who is naturally helpful, good with people and has the desire to help a young person in their working life. You may want to give them some training for this new role, as this is also a development opportunity for your staff. Alternatively, a buddy (who could be a junior member of the team keen to develop their skills) can offer valuable support. Pastoral care and support It is important that a young person on a work experience placement is supported in the workplace. Through naivety or lack of maturity, they could fall foul of policies or standards of behaviour in the early days, so it is vital that they have a support network in place to guide them through. They may not know many things that you take for granted. Someone, such as a mentor or (in larger organisations) the person responsible for managing the work experience programme, needs to be able to act as an advocate, to step in and have those difficult conversations very early, before any formal procedures are triggered. Without this sort of support, the student can undermine their own success because they lack the skills, knowledge or selfawareness of how to interact with others in the workplace. Work experience helps students to strengthen their CVs and develop a network of useful contacts employers@cityplym.ac.uk cityplym.ac.uk/employers

9 How can you develop a rapport with a student on a work experience placement? The following examples are ways to help you develop a rapport with the young person: allow them plenty of time to ask questions at the induction and throughout build a supportive working relationship with them meet them for lunch on their first day act as a point of contact for any concerns that the individual might have supervise and coach them during the working day provide on-going constructive feedback help them with their communication skills give advice on working life reflect on their progress and have regular conversations about their attitude to work. How should you review their progress? We suggest having regular conversations with the individual, reflecting on progress and their attitude. It would also be useful to arrange a review midway through the placement to assess the young person s progress and consider any additional development activities. There may well be areas identified for development during the placement, or issues that arise for a student who may not have prior experience of the workplace. It is important to discuss and address any issues to maximise their learning from the placement. All feedback should be provided sensitively so as to avoid damaging the young person s confidence. You may find it useful to provide an opportunity for quiet discussion to resolve any 7

10 Concluding the Work Experience Placement At the end of the work experience placement, a meeting with the young person should take place to review how everything went - both for the individual as well as the employer. We recommend that you assess the success of the placement and, if appropriate, offer further support by agreeing to act as a referee and encouraging the student to stay in touch. What is the best way to conclude a work experience placement? As a work experience placement draws to a close, regardless of how long it has lasted, it is good practice to arrange a final meeting. During the review, the young person could be asked questions such as: what have you learned and how have you developed during this work experience? how well have you met your objectives? Your work experience student should have a copy of the Work Experience Log Book where you will find a review form to complete together. what do you see as your strengths and are there any areas for improvement or development? what have been your biggest/proudest achievements? what specific projects have you contributed to? in what ways are you better prepared for the jobs market after completing this work experience? employers@cityplym.ac.uk cityplym.ac.uk/employers

11 potential employers. This might outline what they did during their time at the organisation and how they went about performing their tasks. It might also include their attitude to learning, reliability and attendance, as well as their interaction with work colleagues or customers. Moreover, there are several things that you can relay back as part of this discussion: how well do you think they have performed (in general and/or on specific projects)? what are their strengths and weaknesses? what areas of development do you suggest that they concentrate on in future jobs? We also recommend asking them what feedback they have for your organisation in terms of how well the work experience was run and how this could be improved in future. How can you act as a referee for the student? We recognise that the process of referencegiving can vary between employers, with some preferring to confirm only that a person worked with them between specific dates. However, we ask employers to consider the importance of providing a more detailed summary of experience to the young person, as this will help them to focus on their own key achievements and promote themselves to Can you recruit the young person after completion of the work experience? If you have a vacancy and the work experience placement has been successful, you can offer them a job. This can be part-time, full-time or seasonal. If you don t have an immediate vacancy, but would consider them in the future, encourage the student to stay in touch. It is important to manage their expectations and to be clear if there are no copportunities likely to become available. Apprenticeships are a unique way to grow your own workforce. They combine on-thejob training in your organisation with offthe-job learning. This learning takes place in an industry context and provides a real understanding about the working world, combining practical skills with theoretical knowledge. They offer a career route into your organisation and a valuable opportunity to grow the skills you need now and in the future. If you would like to find out about recruiting an apprentice, please contact the Business Engagement team on or 9

12 City College Work Experience Placement Charter City College aims to make work experience rewarding for employers and meaningful, relevant and inspiring to young people. The College s commitment To meet the placement needs of individuals, businesses and communities in Plymouth, the College will: ensure enquiries are handled efficiently and effectively in a professional and timely manner offer a risk-assessed safe and healthy learning environment where everyone feels safe and valued regardless of background harness a working relationship whereby employers and employees are confident that their feedback will be listened to and acted upon pre-screen and select the most suitable students provide candidate details so employers can choose the most suitable students monitor attendance visit the student at least once to monitor their progress provide a dedicated member of staff who will support and mentor the student provide the student with work-related activities to complete, which will help the placement to be more meaningful provide the employer with example activities that they can complete with the student be on-hand to offer information, support and guidance for the employer. By offering work experience to a young person, an employer is making a significant contribution to their development, even if they cannot offer them a further job opportunity employers@cityplym.ac.uk cityplym.ac.uk/employers

13 The student s commitment To get the most out of the work experience placement, young people are expected to: prepare for the placement and make contact with the organisation before arrival be clear about specific learning objectives and agree these in advance with the employer prepare a professional CV that informs the employer of strengths and weaknesses to allow for work to be allocated appropriately arrive every day on time. If illness arises, let the employer and College mentor know before 9.00am on that working day. Contact must also be made if arriving late adhere to dress codes, working hours and behave in a professional manner carry out the duties agreed to the best of their ability uphold City College s good reputation by behaving in a mature, professional and respectful manner not lie or mislead the organisation. Do not divulge or exploit any private or confidential information not use the internet or for private use, unless permission is given by the organisation adhere to the organisation s Equality Policy and treat colleagues and customers with dignity and respect, regardless of background ask for advice, guidance and support when required and discuss any problems or issues with the appropriate member of staff report any safeguarding and equality and diversity issues to a member of College staff don t wait until a tutor visits; report any concerns immediately. Make the most of this new challenge and the opportunity to 11

14 The employer s commitment To provide a smooth and rewarding work experience placement, we expect employers to: establish hours of work and the duration of the placement prior to the placement starting state the dress code, and also expectations and guidance on professional conduct provide full training on any software or equipment to be used provide the work experience student with a risk-assessed, safe, healthy and inclusive learning environment where all are treated with dignity and respect regardless of background ensure the placement is tailored to the young person s needs and circumstances - this includes finding out what the young person wants to get out of the placement, which skills they want to develop, what barriers they face and what their career aspirations are ensure there is clarity about the role that the young person plays in the organisation and how they will be supported, supervised and mentored by employees introduce the work experience student to the structure of working life; help them to learn and to develop a range of transferable skills, personal qualities and competencies which will contribute towards their employability ensure success is celebrated and the young person has an enjoyable and positive work experience that encourages them to become more confident in their abilities encourage the young person to relate their experiences and skills to the workplace and support them in making a more informed decision about their future. Provide them with open, honest and constructive feedback about what went well and what areas need to be improved with recommendations on how to do this provide an integrated approach to working with, investing in, recruiting and developing young people, with work experience placements being a part of the commitment to help young people to access, and progress in, the organisation. Provide a structured, informative, and valuable work experience placement employers@cityplym.ac.uk cityplym.ac.uk/employers

15 Regulations Regarding Work Experience Offering work experience to a young person does not mean undertaking lots of regulatory requirements. Safeguarding and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks Employers do not have to carry out a DBS check for anyone on work experience and do not need to carry out a DBS check for staff supervising young people aged 16 or 17 on work experience. However, City College may fund a DBS check if your organisation requires this. Insurance Employers Liability Insurance covers all employees, including young people on temporary work placements. Employers won t need to pay additional premiums for providing work experience placements to young people and there are no additional forms to complete. Health and safety legislation Young people on work experience are treated the same as employees of the same age, under health and safety legislation. If the employer already employs 16 or 17 year olds, they won t need to take any further health and safety-related action. City College may still need to carry out health and safety compliance checks though, as the safety of our students is paramount to 13

16 If you would like to find out how you can inspire your future workforce, please call the Business Engagement team on or City College Plymouth 2018