Topic: Work-experience
Company name: The Rainbow Centre
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 The Rainbow Centre
The Rainbow Centre provides conductive education for children who have Cerebral Palsy. Recently they have also branched out to cover a wider area; also helping adults who have Parkinsons, MS or have suffered from strokes. The company is based in Fareham, Hampshire and covers the Southern Counties, although most of its work takes place in Hampshire. It has two charity shops in Portsmouth and Southampton.

Total number of employees
21 members of staff in total: including 10 full-time workers and 11 part-time. Although not strictly employees the charity also has 55 volunteers who work on a regular basis.

Operational countries
Solely a UK based charity.

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
Work experience programme.

Project managers
Jane Galloway, communications manager, Magdi Kovacs, service manager.

Responsibilities
Jane Galloway manages the graduate work experience and Magdi Kovacs manages the work experience programme as a whole.

Length of scheme
The Rainbow Centre has been running a work experience programme for a number of years. They offer short placements of two weeks as well as lengthier three month placements for healthcare professionals wishing to learn more about this area of expertise.

Work experience structure
• While the work experience programme is tailored to meet the needs of the individual as well as the company’s needs at that time, The Rainbow Centre do have various guidelines that they adhere to with each placement. 

• Initially they conduct an interview or discussion with the student to ascertain what they want out of the placement as well as inform them what is expected of them. 

• For graduate placements, the interview process is more formal but conducted on the basis of establishing a win-win situation for both The Rainbow Centre and the work experience placement. 

• Graduates are provided with a job description, person specification and outline of the company.

• When a student is successful in gaining a place on the programme, they undergo an induction process in order to familiarise them with health and safety, the work of the charity and disability awareness – due to the nature of the work.

Benefits
• Enables community integration for both The Rainbow Centre and placement students, as well as links with schools and universities.

• Work experience placements of this nature help to instil responsibility as well as a caring mentality as a result of the nurtured environment. It opens students up to a more formal working method.

Results
• Some placement students have gone on to become employees at The Rainbow Centre; having already worked at the charity they have been able to establish that it is an area they wish to work in, as well as demonstrating their abilities to The Rainbow Centre.

• Those that do not go on to be employees often do volunteer work, or continue to support the charity through local fundraising.

• The Rainbow Centre is finalists in the ‘Charity Sector’ category at the 2008 NCWE Awards.

Lessons
• The most important lesson learnt from the work experience programme is the importance of efficiency. 

• In order for both parties to get the optimum benefits from the process the students must be aware of their responsibilities and role within the organisation. 

• However, at the same time it is also important to keep a relaxed atmosphere so that students feel comfortable and quickly slot in with the team.

Future plans
• Hope to offer more graduate placements.

Key tips

1. Understand what the organisation needs from the placement.

2. Conduct a thorough interview process.

3. Explain in detail what the organisation does and how it operates.

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