Author: Heather Collier, manager, National Council for Work Experience (NCWE)

Topic: Work experience

About: The National Council for Work Experience (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. Its role includes disseminating information and good practice, encouraging the development of quality standards and encouraging more employers to provide placement opportunities.

OVERVIEW

• Working with bright, enthusiastic students can provide your business with a significant advantage over competitors.  Benefits include access to high-level skills and cutting-edge research, as well as the opportunity for your business to benefit from the input of dynamic and fresh talent.

• From an HR point of view, work-experience students can help keep staff levels constant during holiday-heavy periods of the year. Well-run work-experience programmes can also offer permanent staff the opportunity to develop supervisory skills through student mentoring. Students offer innovative ideas and new perspectives.

• Students can make excellent `brand ambassadors’. If they have a good experience with your organisation they will tell their friends and co-students, thereby encouraging others to apply.

• Finding a valuable employee through a placement can cut recruitment and training costs down the line and minimise potential recruitment mistakes for both parties.

• To ensure organisations get the very best from work-experience placements, the National Council for Work Experience has developed the following guidelines for employers.

WHEN TO USE THIS GUIDE

• When you are considering how to go about recruiting the right student for the right job in your business.
• When you need to know how to make the most of the student and how to manage them during their placement.
• When you need advice on the way forward when the work placement comes to an end.

10-STEP ACTION PLAN
 
Before: planning for the placement

1. Draw up a plan with colleagues, draft a job description or project outline, have an idea of the competencies required for the position. Placements vary in length from one day per week, to over summer and Easter vacations, or for 6-12 months as industrial placements or a vocational element of a degree course.

2. Consider going straight to the student market and save money by advertising through your local university careers advisory service. University careers advisors can also provide help by matching students to your criteria and by identifying courses from which you might target your intake.

3. Generally interview and treat work placement students just as you would any other employee. This helps the student integrate and feel valued as part of the organisation from day one. The placement can be considered as a ‘taster’ session to observe the student as a potential hire with no commitment.

During: how to get the most from the placement

4. Provide the new work-experience student with an induction. Make sure that the student is familiar with company objectives, health and safety and key staff, and has a clear brief of all the tasks that are expected of them.

5. Make sure that they have their own work space and access to everything they need to complete the tasks you have set.

6. Make sure that the goals and objective you set are realistic, breaking them down into manageable steps if they are complex. Remember that this may well be the student’s first taste of a formal work environment.

7. Assign a mentor or buddy who can help to guide the student through the placement and who can answer any questions they may have.

8. Provide progress reviews, and regular assessment of the student’s progress. Set up opportunities for regular feedback from the student too, so that you can iron out any problems, identify training needs and make sure that work you have set moves forward.

After: assessing the success of the placement

9. At the end of the placement, provide a two-way review of the student’s performance. This will ensure that the student gets the most out of the experience and will allow you to assess the impact of the student’s work on your business and evaluate the programme for the future.

10. If you think you have found the right person for your business in the longer-term, now is the time to discuss future work opportunities with the student.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES | RESULTS 

• FDL Packaging manufacture high-quality fibre drums and distribute steel, plastic and other packaging and containers to the food manufacturing, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

The sales director commented on a recent work-placement student:

“The student’s project has made our web presence much more professional. He sorted the group website, refreshing what was there and developing two new sites from scratch. With his understanding of the business and using his own initiative and design flair, he developed creative and informative websites. He was honest, punctual and reliable. He worked autonomously and fitted into the office environment extremely well. I can see this project leading to him doing further work for us and him becoming a valuable employee for any business in the future.”

The student perspective:

“FDL were great to work with - I feel I have made many friends and the management team was very good. I learnt a great deal on this project and this work experience is something I can put on my CV and really talk about in future interviews. It’s helped me with my academic work too: I did a lot of things at FDL that I am now just being taught in my 3rd year.”

BEST PRACTICE

NCWE has developed a Quality Mark for work experience. The Quality Mark is intended to raise standards for work experience and gives employers the opportunity to share best practice across a range of industry sectors and take a more strategic view of their relationships within higher education. The accreditation recognises placements which demonstrate the importance of qualities such as company commitment, learning and development and programme evaluation. Businesses who have recently achieved the Quality Mark include Marks & Spencers, HJ Heinz and Citi.

Here is a full list of best practice case studies accredited under the NCWE
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION

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