Practical Tips FOR YOUR PLACEMENTS

Having been through the previous sections you should now have a good idea of how existing employers in Movement to Work have offered work experience placements, as well as a first draft plan for the strategic direction of your very own placement scheme.

Below are common questions on the practicalities of offering work experience; before, during and after your placements.

BEFORE WORK EXPERIENCE PLACEMENTS

Q: Should I work with a training provider?

A: The Movement to Work Partner Network provides a channel to training providers, youth outreach organisations and affiliates to support your employability programme. Please speak to your Movement to Work account manager to discuss the options available.

The advantages of working with a member of the Movement to Work Partner Network is their knowledge of Movement to Work, the employability landscape and support they can provide to your employer. They also often have detailed reporting requirements over a sustained period of time, enabling improved tracking of outcomes of young people and better insight into your programmes success.

If your preference is to work independently or with an organisation not listed on the Movement to Work Partner Network, we understand but please do let us know; ultimately, growing the network means delivering more for young people!

Click here to view our Partners


Q: Where do I advertise my work experience placements?

A: Movement to Work has a Talent Portal hosted by Get My First Job. They host the new talent platform, and with more than 100,000 hits per month, Get My First Job is very popular with those seeking entry-level vacancies. The Movement to Work Talent Portal advertises your unpaid, work experience placement opportunities free of charge. The applications can either be directed to your website (subject to GDPR agreements) or processed via one of our supporting employers, Manpower. The link is available via the Movement to Work website or directly via Get My First Job. Completion of the template is quick and easy to understand, please ask and we can send you the link to complete. Take a look at current opportunities here.


Q: My employer doesn’t have any relevant training material, do you have any resources we can use?

A: Accenture’s CSR Team has developed the Movement to Work Employability Skills Curriculum. The curriculum helps you to deploy two industry leading, interactive online training tools; Skills to Succeed and Digital Skills.

The Curriculum can be used in its entirety or in modules; as a Member of Movement to Work, you have the freedom to use as many modules as you like to support your employability programme. There are many advantages to this online training, namely to:

  • relevant content for today’s learners, presented in an engaging way
  • flexible delivery (e.g. in classroom session or independent study)
  • enables non-specialists to deliver employability and digital skills training with ease
  • reduced preparation time
  • allows organisations to upskill in large numbers

Once you become a Movement to Work member, the links to view the Movement to Work Employability Skills Curriculum will be made available to you.

DURING WORK EXPERIENCE PLACEMENTS

Q: Does Movement to Work recommend additional support?

A: Mentors, ambassadors and employment support: we have found that placements are significantly more effective for young people when they are supported in the workplace on a day-to-day basis, for example by a designated ‘buddy’ or mentor. This makes the young people more confident and allows them to better fulfil their true potential. Mentors enjoy the experience and become more engaged and bought-in to social mobility. We have found the long-term culture of employers can be boosted significantly. Young people who are mentored both during and after their WEX find this support invaluable in securing a job or returning to education.

Some young people benefit from supported employment, i.e. an external person working closely and supporting both the young person and their team environment. Via the Movement to Work Partner Network, introductions to organisations who can provide supported employment are available.


Q: How do we monitor our impact with our participants?

A: Via the Meet & Engage Movement to Work communications channel, participants on your employability programme will be invited to join a chat session anonymously (occurring at a regular time, twice a month) to provide their thoughts. This session will be focussed on understanding what is working well, as well as identifying improvements to programmes, and will be moderated so that people, companies or specific employability programmes are not identified.


Q: How does Movement to Work collect our reporting data?

A: In order to track the delivery of programmes with each employer throughout the year and understand the progression of participants coming through their Movement to Work programmes, we collect data from our members each quarter via a simple survey.

The data requested centres on the volume of participants coming through direct-entry programmes, and placements, and their progression after completing programmes into jobs or back into education. Here’s a breakdown of the data that we request:

  • Direct Employment:
    • Number into employment
    • Number into apprenticeships
  • Work experience placements started & completed
  • For the young people who completed a placement, the number who:
    • Obtained jobs in your organisation
    • Obtained jobs in another organisation
    • Returned to education / training
    • Remained not in employment, education or training (NEET)
    • Did not respond

Once a year, issued in the Q1 Survey, we also request diversity and inclusion data (gender, ethnicity, disability), and regional data for the previous year. This data is key to understanding our member-wide impact across the employability space, and more importantly, ensure that we are adequately supporting participants into a positive outcome, and setting targets for ourselves to improve on (e.g. proportion of the market we are reaching, percentages of participants going into employment). We are also uniquely placed to identify trends and insights, whether it be on employer delivery, or collective insights based on regional or diversity footprints.

AFTER WORK EXPERIENCE PLACEMENTS

Q: What happens to young people once they complete their work experience placement?

A: Upon graduation from an employability programme, we hope participants will secure a job or return to further education. Understanding this is not always the case, Movement to Work is looking at ways in which those leaving a programme without a positive outcome can be supported. This is work in progress for us and we will keep you informed as our ideas develop. If you would like to become involved in this important project, please let us know.


Q: Can we contribute anything more? 

A: Yes! We always need more ambassadors to help spread the word on Movement to Work and our mission. As a network of employers, both large and small, we can create a nationwide multiplier effect and do more to impact the lives of young people and drive positive business performance. If you would like to join our leadership forums, webinars and share your case studies, we would be delighted to hear from you.

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