Topic: Work experience
Company name: HJ Heinz Ltd.
Scheme partner: National Council for Work Experience (NCWE)

About NCWE
The National Council for Work Experience is part of HECSU, the Higher Education Careers Services Unit. It promotes, supports and develops quality work experience for the benefit of students, organisations and the economy.

About Heinz
Heinz is a global food manufacturer and one of the most loved and trusted brands on supermarket shelves in the UK. The company’s head office is based in Hayes (West London).

Total number of employees
3,544 in the UK and Ireland.

Operational countries
Heinz is a global company whose products are available in over 200 countries.

Challenge
Often work experience is marred with images of tea-making and filing, but this is not the case with modern work experience programmes. Employers today face the challenge of implementing and maintaining a quality programme that benefits both the company and the individual. Structured programmes can enable companies to complete projects, recruit new employees and allow the student invaluable work place experience.
 
Project name
Work experience programme.

Project manager
Various personnel working on the Heinz Talent Team.

Length of scheme
Heinz has offered a work experience programme for over 10 years. The graduate scheme runs for just over two years, but Heinz also offers a one-year placement programme.

Work experience structure
• The one-year work experience programme places the students in a real role within the company. 

• The placement is supported by a tailored training and development plan, a mentor and networking events, among other things.

Benefits
• The company benefits by creating and utilising a pool of highly talented, flexible individuals, with the added benefit of improving relationships and profile on campus before its competitors. 

• In terms of the benefits for the student, they are able to apply their academic studies in a commercial environment, thereby increasing not only their overall knowledge and skills but also their employability post-graduation.

Results
• The one-year placement scheme provides Heinz with a route to identify and recruit talented individuals onto the graduate placement scheme and as a result, a number of placement students have gone on to do this.

• Heinz has also been able to achieve product launches and other critical business projects more effectively and efficiently as a result of recruiting work experience students. This emphasises the importance of providing placement students with real projects, in order for them to make an impact for and on the company.

• Heinz are finalists in the ‘Over 250 Employees – 4-12 Months’ category at the 2008 NCWE Awards.

Lessons
• Placement students provide feedback on their time at Heinz, so that the company can make appropriate changes as a result. 

• For example, previous feedback advised that not all participants need the same training at the same level and so the talent management team changed the training programme so that it would be more tailored to the individual.

Future plans
• Heinz hopes to be able to offer work experience placements for alternative periods of time, such as Summer placements. 

• However, the complexity involved in handling and managing multiple work experience programmes running over different periods of time, to the same high-standard of the one-year placements, means that this idea is still in the pipe line.

Key tips

1. Work with the experts – careers and placements professional within institutions, the AGR and NCWE can offer a wealth of expertise and support in developing a work experience programme and recruiting the right people for your organisation.

2. Offer real roles – work experience participants relish the opportunity to own and deliver real business critical roles within the organisation and by trusting in their capability and desire to do a great job they rarely disappoint.

3. Don’t just go for the usual suspects – offer opportunities to applicants from a broad range of experiences and backgrounds as there is a hidden pool of highly talented individuals out there that you can capitalise upon.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

The National Council for Work Experience is part of HECSU, the Higher Education Careers Services Unit. It promotes, supports and develops quality work experience for the benefit of students, organisations and the economy. Its role includes disseminating information and good practice, encouraging the development of quality standards and encouraging more employers to provide placement opportunities. NCWE run an annual awards scheme to encourage and reward organisations that display good practice in work experience.


National Council for Work Experience and the Quality Mark accreditation scheme:
T: 0161 277 5267
E: workexperience@prospects.ac.uk
www.work-experience.org


ADDRESS:

National Council for Work Experience
Prospects House
Booth Street
Manchester
M13 9EP