Why Work Experience is the answer.

I’m often asked by schools and students if I can offer work experience, everything from a few days to summer long placements. At Naked Element we’ve always found the experience enjoyable and often learned as much about ourselves as the students did about our business. Bright, ambitious and free of those bad habits we all learn along the way in the world of work, work experience students can inject energy and enthusiasm into a business.

Many employers and businesses feel that they don’t have the time or resources to commit to a work experience placement, as much as they’d like to help a young person as they’re starting out,  but there are in fact lots of benefits to your business that make work experience a win-win situation for both student and business. Here’s just a few:

Early access to emerging talent
Lots of employers find that work experience programmes are a great way to recruit top talent straight from schools and colleges. Extensive research by City & Guilds shows that staff taken on following work experience placement are more effective, require less training, have more respect for their supervisors and have a greater ability to work in teams. Plus, many small businesses struggle to find young people who have even the most basic work skills and taking on a work experience candidate is a great way to test their skills before you commit to them.

Fresh Ideas
In most cases your work experience candidate will be eager to learn or they wouldn’t be with you in the first place. In an effort to impress they’ll be keen to get stuck in and maybe even bring something new to the table. Perhaps your company is lacking a social media presence that your work experience candidate can address?

Today’s youth are tomorrow’s consumers
Research has shown that “the consumer power of under 16 year olds has grown faster than that of any other age group. This has led marketers to identify three roles which young people can fill for businesses as ‘current consumers; influencers and future purchasers’ (Miller, 1998, p 316).” Work experience helps businesses and brands get up close and personal with their target markets or future consumers.

And of course…

Giving Something Back
One of the biggest benefits of offering someone work experience is the chance to give someone a helping hand in the often overwhelming world of work. Businesses are placing more and more emphasis on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and work experience is a great way to do your bit in up-skilling the next generation of workers. Enjoy the feel-good factor of giving someone an opportunity they might not have otherwise had and encourage their interests in business. You never know – they could be the next Gates, Branson or Jobs…

If you’re interested in finding out more about how your business can benefit from offering work experience, get in touch with Paul on paul@nakedelement.co.uk who’ll help you get in touch with top talent.