Firms:
· Why take on a W.E. Intern?
· Why Get Work Experience (“G.W.E.”)?
· How much will it cost to market a placement?
· What format will the placement process take?
· What information does G.W.E. require of me?
· What information will be relayed to me whilst my placement is marketed?
· Does my firm’s name have to be used on the site?
Students:
· Why undertake a placement?
· Why Get Work Experience (“G.W.E.”)?
· Will it cost me anything?
· How do I apply?
· How do I know that my C.V. is good enough?
· What should I wear to the Interview?
· What will happen after I complete the placement?
Firms:
Why take on a W.E. Intern?
Reduce Costs But Remain Competitive
The recession has led to firms making necessary redundancies to reduce their fixed costs. However, in order to remain competitive, each firm must maintain or improve the standard of service that they have built their reputation upon. By stating your requirements to Get Work Experience, we are able to provide you with a student who is able to meet your requirements without adding to your fixed costs. Unlike other student-orientated recruitment firms, we will not charge any further fees if the applicant joins you full-time and indeed are hopeful that your firm chooses to do so.
Inspiration, Integrity, Inclusion and Influence
By taking on a work experience graduate you are introducing a new energetic influence to your business that has a fresh perspective with new and innovative ideas that could prove beneficial to your business.
Taking on a work experience student is an ethical action which enables students to enhance their chances of gaining employment in the industry they pursue whilst providing your firm with a willing employee. The result is that your firm will be presented as proactive, ethical and honest to both existing and prospective clients. As the Prime Minister has stated, it is about ‘encouraging a whole generation of young Britons to embrace ambition and British enterprise’[1].
Providing opportunities for students to embark on their employment with your firm shows that you are an employer committed to equality, diversity and partnership working.
Students embarking on their careers with your firm will continue into the workplace taking with them the influences and ideology of your firm. This can heighten and widen the influence of your firm in the marketplace for future years resulting in additional clients and contacts.
Unprofitable Tasks
Each firm has tasks that are fundamental to their operations, but are undertaken by full-time employees on a salary that make their undertaking of the tasks undertaking.
Our Future Economic Prosperity
The UK Commission for Employment and Skills predicts that 2 million new jobs will be required by 2017 to meet Britain’s anticipated economic growth. However, we are currently in a recession and many firms have reduced their costs by making redundancies.
Why Get Work Experience (“G.W.E.”)?
G.W.E.’s strength over temporary employment firms also lies in its ability to provide very cheap labour; which may lead to full-time employment with the work experience being used as a trial.
G.W.E.’s strength over individual applications is in its ability to provide assessed (through the application process) students on mass, therefore taking away a sizeable administration task for an assigned employee.
It is a new service; but one similar in construction to mass popular existing services; e.g. recruitment firms. Therefore, this is not a unrecognisable industry, but it is innovative. It will be the first website of this nature to be seen by firms and thus it is my responsibility to continue to hold firms’ interest.
- Website accessible to all.
- The website is very easy to navigate and clear.
- Established links to government support and advice; therefore, providing free guided advice.
- Newsletter providing advice and an up-to-date reflection of the current work experience ‘market place’.
- A large number of clearly defined and described work experience opportunities with lists of students that are suitable to them. Once these opportunities have been married up with the suitable (in terms of location, expense and ability) students, The students will be sent a recommendation note asking them to look at this suitable opportunity, therefore quickening the link between the students and the opportunities. This will be facilitated by a clear automated filter system on the website. This personalised approach will additionally encourage students to take up the opportunity.
- The product that provides a website that helps students gain work experience in their desired field. This will increase their knowledge of both work and that particular industry (ask MDs of firms to write a report detailing their industry) which will provide them with information to draw upon when they go into the employment market. The result is that;
- they will become more attractive to employers and/or university deans.
- they will become more unique with their individual experiences to both.
- build their pride through achievement in the workplace at a firm they have selected as being desirable.
- The product is also a website that aids employers utilise ambitious students to carry out low-paid tasks that will benefit the firm. Further, they are;
- New individuals bringing with them a new perspective. This may support a firm’s innovations. Their age will provide an insight into many demographics; students, teenagers etc.
- A source of pride for the firm in being able to attract ambitious students to the place of work, without relying on monetary incentives.
- Able to utilise students to provide short-term support, but with individuals that have been tailored and targeted to the ‘emergency at hand’.
- Able to ‘test’ out students, by ticking the ‘possible full-time employment’ option, before possi bly hiring them on a full-time contract, which would go towards ensuring that there were no shocks with the introduction of a new member to the team.
- To receive a brief, but concise, report after the placement has ended which will provide an external view of how your company is perceived. This will enable the managerial staff and other to review their managerial abilities.
- Able to reduce the human resources department through reducing administration tasks and filtering out those individuals who would be
How much will it cost to market a placement?
We take pride in being able to meet your firm's individual requirements in line with your financial constrictions. This flexibilty has resulted in us offering a variety of services to ensure that you can gain without the pain! For further information on our services and their associated costs please contact us with your requirements via info@getworkexperience.com.
Basic Marketing of a Placement
Our initial servive is to market the placement. This involves advertising and marketing both your firm and the placement through our website and social media networks, collating the applications and providing you with the C.V.’s and contact details of those individuals who have applied for the position.
Marketing of a Placement & Review of Applicant
We are also able to undertake the administrative work too!
In addition to undertaking all of our roles as provided by the Basic Marketing package, we will also actively search our database of students and hand-pick suitable students before putting the position to them. Following this, we will review all the applications received in house, before selecting a handful of students that we feel are best suited to the needs of your company. This selection process will include the analysis of C.V.’s, references and their association with G.W.E. This package reduces the administrative time spent by your firm in selecting the employee whilst tailoring the students to your specific requirements.
Market Your Firm Directly On the G.W.E. Site
If you wish to market your company directly on our website, please contact us via e-mail (info@getworkexperience.com) in order to receive details of our marketing packages.
Run a Poll On Our Website; Find Out Student Opinions
At G.W.E. we have the capability to carry out opinion polls on our site that collate student opinions to your firm’s questions. If you would like further information on undertaking a poll, please contact us via e-mail (info@getworkexperience.com) in order to receive details of the tailored service that we are able to undertake on your behalf.
What format will the Placement Process Take?
Once you have informed us that you would like to market a position on our website, we will ask you a set of questions that need not require more than twenty minutes of your time. Once we have the answers to these questions, we will comprise the placement posting and return it to our appointed contact in your firm for their approval.
When we have your consent to the mock posting, we will place it on our website, start our marketing campaign and begin collating applicants for the post. Once we have provided you with the relevant C.V.s and contact details, we will await your feedback following the interview process. Upon conclusion, when the placement has commenced, we will provide you with our invoice. Following completion of the placement, we will request feedback that need not take more than ten minutes of your time to complete.
What Information does G.W.E. require of me?
The information that we would require to complete the posting is for the purposes of clarifying our role, the marketing of the position and in providing useful feedback to the students upon completion. Examples of the types of questions posed involve;
- The duration of the position in days/weeks
- The skills required by the student
- The roles to be undertaken by the applicant
- The ability of the applicant to meet your firm’s requirements of them (on a scale of 1-10)
What information will be relayed to me whilst my placement is marketed?
The placement will be marketed for the agreed period of time. During this time, we will inform you if your posting has attracted an unusually high or low level of interest and provide our recommendations accordingly. Our intention is to provide a hassle-free but efficient service, but if you require more frequent updates or would like to request more information then please do not hesitate to contact us.
Does my firm’s name have to be used on the site?
No. There is no requirement for your firm’s name to be used in the marketing of the placement prior to the interview process. However, our research has shown that students are more attracted to firms who do use their name at the header of the posting and whom they are able to review prior to their application. In addition, the majority of firms like to use the postings as an opportunity to market their firm to “tomorrow’s workforce”.
Students:
Why undertake a placement?
Youth Unemployment
In August, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development stated its ‘alarming’ concern that the number of 16 and 17 year- olds unemployed for over a year has almost doubled to 20,000 over the past twelve months.
BT confirmed earlier in the year that they were suspending their graduate recruitment scheme, as a result of the recession and ‘headcount pressures’, despite receiving 4,800 applications for the 130 jobs that it offered in 2008; an increase of 1,000 from 2007.
In a recession, firms look to reduce their expenditure in order to maximise profit. Since senior, more qualified, employees command greater fees from clients they are more likely to be retained by employers. In addition, few prospective employees tend to be recruited in such times.
The problem for businesses that are forced to undertake such measures is that the work must be undertaken and it is unprofitable to assign more qualified members of staff to undertake it. The solution is to take on a work experience student who will be able to undertake the work whilst contributing innovative ideas to your firm without adding to your fixed costs.
Basic Employment Requirement
Hugh Harvey, the Managing Director of Comet, stated that the best piece of advice that he had been given was from his father who told him that ‘nothing can replace on-the-job experience’[2]. A work experience placement backed by a reference provides any prospective employer with evidence that you have proved yourself capable in the working environment and actively pursued enhancements to your CV.
The vast majority of employers are looking for a degree of experience in the jobs market, whether specific to that industry or not, prior to hiring an individual on a full-time basis. This reduces the risk in employing a new employee, shows the candidates desire to enter the professional world and provides references by which to measure the prospective employee’s ability.
In certain industries, work experience is seen as part of the standard process to obtaining a full-time position. It is broadly recognised that the primary route into the television industry, for example, is to make the necessary contacts through work experience.
Reduce Gap Between Classroom And Workplace
Sir Stuart Rose, the executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, launched The Big Conversation which led to a meeting between 100 CEOs and 100 young people in order to discuss how employers can “turn work experience into work inspiration”. In order for both firms and students to benefit from work experience it is imperative that the student’s time is used beneficially if it is to be productive.
Get Work Experience clarifies the work experience placement required and matches it with only those students who have the suitable skills to undertake the work required. This ensures that no time is wasted in interviewing or teaching unsuitable applicants, but that the time is most productively used.
Why Get Work Experience?
- G.W.E.’s strength over individual applications is in its ability to provide categorised and varied internment positions on mass, therefore taking away a sizeable administration task for the applicant employee.
- G.W.E.’s strength over individual applications for students is the ease of multiple use, the transparency of the work experience opportunity offered and the wealth of supportive information offered on the site.
- G.W.E.’s strength over borough-organised work experience is the breadth of opportunities; both across and within the numerous industrial sectors; ‘giving the student’s their choice’.
Will it cost me anything?
G.W.E. will not charge the students any fee since it is our aim to encourage unemployed young people to gain work experience, bolster their C.V.s and gain full-time employment in their ideal industry. Nonetheless, it is important that you discuss what your prospective employer will provide for you during your placement. For example, some employers will make a contribution to your travel costs during the placement.
How do I apply?
Initially, review the placements that are of interest to you. These postings will carry information about the placement including location, information about the company and the role that you will be expected to perform. Once you have chosen a placement, “left click” once on the underlined position at the top of the posting.
This will bring you to a new page with further information describing the placement. At the bottom of this page, you will be provided with a button giving you the option to ‘Apply for Work Experience’. If you “left click” on this button once again, you will be presented with a short form that will ask you for your name and contact details. It will also ask you to upload your C.V. and for any additional comments that you may wish to add to your application.
To upload your C.V., click ‘browse’ on the G.W.E. form and locate your C.V. in the folder upon which you have saved it on your own computer. When you have found it, “double left click” on it and then “left click” once on the ‘open’ button. Your C.V. will now be uploaded upon the G.W.E. application and to finalise your apply, simply click the ‘Apply for Work Experience’ button at the bottom of the form.
For a step-by-step guide go to the ‘Work Experience Advice’ tab on the homepage and scroll down to the ‘How to Apply’ button and “left click” on that option.
How do I know that my C.V. is good enough?
It is imperative that your C.V. is clear, concise and presentable if you are to gain an interview in an employment market where there is likely to be substantial number of applicants for each position. As a result, we provide a ‘C.V. Advice’ section under the ‘Work Experience Advice’ banner on our homepage. We will update this section as required and provide further up-to-date advice through our ‘Latest News’ postings on our homepage.
What should I wear to the Interview?
We would strongly advise you to “dress to impress” and to benefit from making a good initial impression! For interviews in most industries, we would recommend that you wear a suit or at the very least a shirt and smart shoes. If you feel that this may be inappropriate, then pose the question to the employee who calls you to inform you of the interview.
What will happen after I complete the placement?
Following the completion of your placement, we will contact the relevant firm and request feedback on your time with them. We will inform you of their responses and, if you have performed in line with the terms of your employment, we will present you with a certificate that confirms that you have completed the placement and that G.W.E. are happy to act as a reference on your behalf.
[1] Brown, G. (2009) A statement made during the Prime Minister’s address during the Labour Party’s Conference on the 29th September 2009.
[2] Stone, L. (2009) ‘My First Job’. Reported in the Sun newspaper on the 24th September 2009.