Work Experience and Industry Placement

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Providing opportunities to local young people raises the profile of your company.

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.

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.

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.

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.