Work Experience – no excuses

There are many reasons why as an employer you may feel unable to offer work experience to school aged students but I want to convince you that the benefits will out-weigh the challenges. Opening your doors to students can help in dispelling stereotypes and making sure people have up-to-date information about the opportunities available and the skills employers will need for the future.

There are other benefits too:

- Raising your profile in the local community

- Supporting recruitment to your apprenticeship & graduate schemes

- Development opportunities for existing staff

And more.

The National Careers Strategy, launched in December 2017 has put strong emphasis on schools to engage with employers to make sure that their students are prepared for the work of work. We think that work experience is a impactful way of supporting young people who are interested in a future career in STEM.

Engineering Work Experience: An Employer’s Guide 

Tomorrow’s Engineers, The Royal Academy of Engineering and a number of engineering companies have worked together to produce a useful guide for employers who are looking to offer work experience to secondary school students.

If you are an employer and you would like some guidance and examples of good practice, please download this guide, which comes with template application form, permission letter, risk assessment, confidentiality agreement and everything else you’ll need!

>> Download the guide here 

Don't think that students would want to come to an engineering/manufacturing site for their work experience? There are students looking for opportunities now around Leicestershire who have specifically asked to do their work experience with engineering companies. Could you help?

Work experience project templates

Still not sure about opening your sites and offices? To go with the guide we have also come up with a selection of suggested 2-day to 1-week work experience projects that students could undertake with engineering employers. Employers can use these ‘off the shelf’, or as a basis for devising their own work experience projects. Do drop me a line if you’d like to discuss any of these further (07734 605567) The following topics are covered:

Project 1 - Overseas selling
Project 2 - Improving recruitment
Project 3 - Professional Engineering Institutions
Project 4 - Reducing Waste
Project 5 - Quality Improvement Measures
Project 6 - Energy
Project 7 - Employer engagement with schools
Project 8 - Planning a school visit
Project 9 - Careers information
Project 10 - Employee feedback

The help doesn’t end there. We’ve pulled together some useful templates that employers can adapt and use them in their own work experience programmes.an all be found on our website. Topics covered are:

Sample work experience policy (from Crossrail)
Sample work experience application form for students 
Sample work experience preparation letter to students 
Student’s work experience diary template 
Suggested information for parents 
Sample work experience permission form 
Careers conversations and learning outcomes for students
Example of safeguarding guidance
Risk assessment template 
Sample confidentiality agreement 
Sample IPR agreement
Work Experience – Finmeccanica employer case study

Please do take a look and get in touch if you’d like to help us inspire the next generation of engineers.

Eva

Employer Support Manager, Midlands