One challenge that most businesses face is finding the right people to help them develop and grow.
As an employer, you could provide a young person with a quality work placement which would give them a positive experience and increase their employability skills. It could also help you to build a dynamic and productive workforce.
By providing a work experience opportunity, you would also be contributing to the education process and to the economy as a whole.
This guide provides information on the work experience process, the benefits to both employers and young people and an overview of health and safety and risk assessment considerations.
It also highlights the type of work experience activities you could provide so that both you and the young person get the most benefit from the process.
You can also advertise your work experience opportunities on Connect to Success NI [1].
Work experience is an opportunity to introduce young people to the reality of working life within a willing organisation, to help them secure and sustain employment.
By taking students on work experience, you get an opportunity to engage, inspire and inform young people about what working life is really like.
Offering work experience can bring a number of benefits to you as an employer:
There are a number of benefits for young people and for the rest of society and industry:
Advertise your work experience opportunities on Connect to Success NI [1].
There are various ways that you can advertise or source workplace opportunities.
You can raise awareness of work experience opportunities available at your organisation with school pupils via Connect to Success NI [1].
Connect to Success NI is an online system that enables employers to promote and advertise work experience opportunities for young people who are still at school.
The system, developed by the Department for the Economy, offers employers the facility to upload their work experience opportunities to help young people find them more quickly and easily.
Advertise your work experience opportunities on Connect to Success NI [1].
Alternatively, you may wish to use one of the following organisations to manage opportunities on your behalf. These organisations provide a brokerage service to support employers and school career teachers arrange work experience placements for post-primary students.
A number of schools and colleges encourage young people to find their own placement. However, there are occasions when careers teachers will source placements for the students.
Some schools and colleges have also developed partnerships with local employers.
Specialist Provision for Industry using College Expertise (SPICE) [7], which has centres at the six further education colleges in Northern Ireland, is an initiative which provides assistance in arranging student placements between employers and students.
Issues to consider when thinking of taking part in work experience include:
There are ways you can source or advertise work experience opportunities for young people and graduates.
Training for Success has been developed by the Department for the Economy so that young people can obtain training and development to progress in the workplace.
Through the programme, you can provide work experience opportunities for school leavers aged 16-17 years (and up to age 22 and 24 for those with extended eligibility).
Read more on Training for Success: providing work experience for young people [8].
Read full details on the Work Experience Programme: providing short work placements to support unemployed people [9].
There are a number of things you should ensure are in place before a young person starts their work placement.
You should ensure the young person is covered by your company’s public liability and employer’s liability insurance. Read more on liability insurance [11].
In addition:
For further information, download the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Employers’ Liability guide (PDF, 305K) [12].
You are responsible for the student’s health and safety while they are on placement with you. Read more on what you need to do about health and safety [13].
Read HSE guidance on work experience [14].
Employers should be mindful also of the following legal constraints in place to protect the student.
Students should not:
Read more on employing children and young people [15].
Read HSE guidance on what the law says about young people at work [16].
You should ensure your risk assessment is up-to-date to include work experience students. Read more on health and safety risk assessment [17].
Read HSE guidance on risk assessment [18].
Your staff should be made aware of your organisation’s child protection policy.
You should consider the following:
Providing as much information as possible about the placement to the young person in advance gives them a clearer guide about what to expect and reduces their anxiety.
Before starting, the placement supervisor should try to inform the student about the following:
Placement plans provide both the supervisor and student with a placement structure.
You may wish to consider incorporating the following into the placement plan:
It would be beneficial both for you and the student to spend some time before the placement commences identifying different tasks, projects and activities that they can work on.
Work experience should be beneficial both to you and the young person, so it is essential they are given as much insight into the world of work as possible.
This will allow opportunities for professional development and ensure they can demonstrate their practical experience to potential employers in the future.
Some suggestions for the types of tasks include:
You could also ask the student directly if they have any suggestions for what they would like to do, or improvements they think could be made within your business.
A member of staff should be identified as a Placement Supervisor to support, supervise and mentor the student during their work experience.
This person will also be the first point of contact for the school or college during the placement.
The Placement Supervisor should:
A teacher or representative from the school or college may want to make a visit during the placement or telephone to discuss how the placement is going and what the student is achieving.
On the last day, where possible you and/or the placement supervisor should meet with the student to discuss their placement.
You may wish to discuss the following:
You will usually be asked to complete a student assessment form. This is a very useful document for the student as it can be used in the future as a CV reference.
You may also be asked to complete an employer assessment form for evaluation purposes.
This will allow a critical analysis to be carried out. All suggested recommendations/improvements should be followed up by the school or college.
Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, explains how providing work experience opportunities has benefited their organisation.
An environmental charity, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful campaigns directly to the public to bring about positive changes in behaviour.
Providing work experience opportunities is part of the organisation's ethos and in this video, Ian and Community Development Officer Nicola Murray, talk about how they prepare for new work experience students, tasks that the students get involved in and challenges and benefits to the business.
In addition, work experience student Alastair Fenn, who has subsequently been employed by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful in the role of Environmental Quality Assurance Officer, describes his experience of Business in the Community's Responsible Internship Programme and the opportunities it provided in helping to progress his career.
Find out about advertising work experience opportunities online through Connect to Success NI [1].
Links
[1] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/advertise-apprenticeship-and-school-work-experience-opportunities-connect-success-ni
[2] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content-category/employment-and-skills
[3] http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/work-experience
[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/employer-guides-to-work-experience
[5] http://www.schoolemployerconnections.org/
[6] http://workinspiration-ni.com/site/
[7] http://www.spiceni.com/Info/Pages/default.aspx
[8] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/training-success-banner
[9] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/work-experience-programme
[10] https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/work-experience
[11] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/liability-insurance
[12] http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse40.pdf
[13] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/what-you-need-do-about-health-and-safety
[14] http://www.hse.gov.uk/youngpeople/workexperience/
[15] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/employing-children-and-young-people
[16] http://www.hse.gov.uk/youngpeople/law/
[17] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/health-and-safety-risk-assessment
[18] http://www.hse.gov.uk/youngpeople/workexperience/placeprovide.htm
[19] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/accessni-criminal-records-checks
[20] https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service
[21] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/bullying-and-harassment