Work Experience and Industry Placement

Here at New City College (NCC), we are very keen to engage and work with local and national businesses to help shape the future of Industry and the careers of our students. Offering industry placements or work experience is a great opportunity for businesses to engage with local young people.

Undertaking work-based learning opportunities is vital in helping our students develop the skills needed to succeed in the world of work. You can offer our students work experience from as little as one week, up to 60 days. Our dedicated industry placements and work experience team is on hand to guide you through the whole process. Please contact us and we can help you to decide what you need and introduce you to suitable candidates.

If you don’t feel you are ready to offer a work placement yet but are still keen to share knowledge about your business, industry, and/or career path, we are always looking for guest speakers from the industry to come in and share their experiences with our students, attend our careers fairs and carry out mock interviews.

If you would like to get involved in helping the college and our students, please email wex@ncclondon.ac.uk or call 020 7613 9433.

Why get involved with NCC in Industrial Placements and work experience?

It’s a great recruitment strategy

Industry placements can offer a pipeline for low-cost, effective methods of recruiting from an untapped skills pool. Building a partnership with NCC will give you opportunities to advertise and raise awareness of employment opportunities to our young people who are deciding on their career paths. Students can also contribute to a flexible workforce.
Young people can bring new energy and perspective to your business

A fresh pair of eyes in your business could offer a new perspective and new ways of working.
Increase your staff retention rates

Evidence shows that employees recruited through work inclusion initiatives are more loyal. The job seems more valuable to those who have gained it after undertaking work experience or through a placement. Lower staff turnover will bring direct cost savings to a business. Young people who have done work experience are more likely to remain in that industry and if you are in a position to offer a permanent role or apprenticeship, they are more likely to remain with your business.
Help to resolve entry-level skills shortages.

Offering a pipeline of talent, industry placements and work experience provide an opportunity for young people to develop their job readiness and technical skills and for businesses to recruit the right candidates for entry-level jobs. Students who have undertaken placements are better placed to make decisions about the career pathway they would like to pursue.
Opportunities for current employees to build their skills and experience, creating greater employee satisfaction.

During industry placements, existing staff can act as buddies, coaches, or mentors to placement students. This can help them to gain skills in management and mentorship, both of which are shown to increase levels of job satisfaction.
Help companies meet tender requirements

Commitment to supporting excluded groups can strengthen bids for public sector contracts. It is likely that successful bids for public sector contracts could include the provision of a social or community benefit.
Demonstrate a commitment to diversity and better understand customers

Equality of opportunity is essential for a productive workforce. Through industry placements, there is an opportunity to recruit from a wide community of students. This demonstrates a strong corporate commitment to diversity and may also enable your organisation to better understand customers, lead to greater innovation, more creativity, and better performing teams.
Build brand and corporate reputation.

Providing opportunities to local young people raises the profile of your company.
Shape the direction of technical education within your industry.

Developing a partnership with NCC will help to influence the learning pathway for young people entering your industry. Many industries are facing skills shortages such as construction, care, and hospitality. Offering young people work experience gives them the opportunity to have a ‘taster’ of your business and industry, helping to improve the image of your industry.

The Process:

Industry placements and work experience are relatively easy to set up If you have not been offered work experience.

Undertake a workplace risk assessment to ensure our students are placed in a safe environment
Need a copy of your employer liability insurance. This is a mandatory requirement when hosting students on work experience
Talk you through the process of work experience to include student expectations, your responsibilities, details of what work the student will be doing on placement etc.
Need your signature on the agreement form and the risk assessment forms. You will receive copies of all forms for your retention
Ask you to provide feedback on the student

Duration of placement

This varies from course to course as this depends on how the students’ study programmes are designed. Work experience placements can vary in length, depending on curriculum areas. Typically they last for one week, up to 45 or 60 days. Some courses are designed where the student attends a placement for one day a week for a long period of time or may do a 3-month block.
During the placement

Students should be treated as one of your employees during the placement. It is important to remember, however, that students could be just 16 years old. They may require reassurance and greater supervision.

We appreciate there is a limit to what a student on placement can do in some instances, especially in high-risk areas such as construction, engineering, and electrical environments. In such a case students may observe work being undertaken instead.

Whilst the student is with you, we would like to come along and take photos of them in their workplace, to help them evidence their experience and help us to promote industry placements and work experience.
After the placement

All students are required to write up their experiences whilst on work experience and placement providers are encouraged to give feedback to include comments on time-keeping, attitude, interest in the work, and so on so that we can monitor the students and identify any areas for improvement.

Students are encouraged to update their CVs after the placement to include the new skills and experiences gained from the work experience placement to further enhance their chances of securing employment in the future.

Click below if you would like to get involved and one of our officers will be in touch.