work experience for 15 year olds

[Matt1959]

in their last but one year at our Secondary school, the 15 yr old students do 1 weeks work experience. Its up to the student (students parent!) to find the placement and its quite tightly controlled ie insurance etc.

Well our 15 yr old son has just done 1 week split between 2 firms. 2 days at a web/ graphics firm and 3 days at the other, a design, graphics and signmaking firm.

My wife got the placements and both firms turned her down flat saying they'd provided work experience before and the students had been useless and never again! She persisted and got our son the placements.

The results have been amazing - son came back from both very animated and full of enthusiasm. Both firms said he was a pleasure to have there so a win win situation.

I cannot put into words how amazed I am with the input and support shown by both companies who didnt have to do this - truly inspired by the efforts of these guys who gave our son so much encouragement for the week.

So, does anyone here offer work experience? are the students that get sent really that bad? those of you who have provided, how have you guys found the experience? This is a fantastic way of supporting our youngsters and its shame there seems such cynicism about the quality of the student applicants. These kids benefit so much from this process IMO

 

[ryedale]

So much is down to the teenager and what they want to get out of it i.e is it a career they want to go into as opposed to being stuck there because they have to do something.

It depends on the type of work the firm does as well and how they work.

I took on a 16 year old last year as a full time apprentice (works for me alongside doing a city and guilds) and he's been brilliant but it took him about a month to get how we work and what was expected of him. That would have been very challenging to put across in a few days

 

[Jeff FV]

Our daughter (also y10 - age 15) has just done her week's work experience, at the same company, but working in a number of different areas: its an upmarket retail outlet/ 'location' for weddings, xmas parties etc., cafe ...

It was a bit of a mixed bag. The first day was a bit of a shock - she worked in the retail dept. and got very bored - not too many customers on a Monday and she had to spend her whole day on her feet!

She loved loved working in "events" and thinks that this may be an area to seek a career in; not necessarily events management, but organising and arranging things. She spent some time in marketing and spent some time on the phone to competitors asking about booking a Christmas party so they could find out what the opposition was charging. She spent a day in the cafe & restaurant - felt a little used to have spent three hours doing the washing up!

I do think that, for her, it was a worthwhile experience, if only to realise that, unlike school, the world of work does not revolve around you. She complained (to us) when she came home on Monday that she had to eat her lunch in the stock room - I instantly siezed upon this to deliver a dad lecture about how she might now realise what great facilities they have at school - two canteens, a field to eat your lunch in with your friends etc. She's also decided that she doesnt want to work in retail!

The problem is is finding something useful for a youngster to do on work experience. A friends daughter - bright girl, wants to become a laweyer etc, - spent the week at a solicitors. Spent a boring week in an office doing very little, not, as they had hoped, at the Old Bailey sparring with the finest legal minds in the country!

 

[tony84]

I never did work experience but I do think kids should do more than 1-2 weeks before leaving school.
I do not think I will get many people asking but if I did I would definitely look in to it - depending on the applicant.

 

[David Griffiths]

We used to do it, and generally found that the students were fine. Towards the end of our involvement we restricted it to sons or daughters of clients, which probably helped. The students also seemed to like the time that they spent with us, probably because we gave them real things to do, and not just making coffee and pointless filing for two weeks.

We haven't done it now for a few years. The main factor was the suden leap in bureaucracy, nearly all of it completely pointless, but the way that work has also changed over the years and because we've also changed our IT setup it's just not possible to have an extra user on the system

 

[MOIC]

As mentioned in previous posts, its the attitude of the applicant that is paramount and not just a case of . . . . . "I have to do a placement because that's part of the course".

The work must be tailored around the applicants needs and not that of the employer, who may just find "odd jobs" to fill the time.

It can be beneficial to both parties if approached correctly.

I am all for offering placements, as this often gives me/the employer the opportunity to see first hand the enthusiasm, aptitude and personality of an employee, who they may want to continue working with, be it on a part time basis, or full time, after the student has finished their studies.

If we don't help our youngsters with this experience, we sometimes complain that they do not possess the required skills to enter employment.

As an employer, we have to understand our responsibilities in order to give our youngsters the experience, as well as motivation, to enter employment.

 

[paulears]

So much depends on the people placed. Some the schools are just delighted to have out of their hair for a week or two, while others genuinely want to do it. So finding the right person is important. I have an 18 year old working for me this summer who I could not take on work experience when he was 15 - by law!

I'm amazed how many schools don't even realise a number of workplaces are prohibited places! In my area of work, mainly theatre and events, I could have a 15 year old working for me in a field, with poor sanitation, horrible weather and some questionable members of the public in close proximity. I cannot have a 15 year old working indoors in a clean a reputable theatre - theatres, along with catering kitchens, abattoirs and night clubs (discos) and bars are on a list of no go establishments. Many councils, who would be responsible for a prosecution don't even know, and many of the venues themselves are ignorant. I'm aware of quite a few schools who routinely send their kids to some of these kinds of venues for their work experience, and the venues themselves are also totally ignorant they're breaking the law. Patently stupid, but still the law. The catering kitchen is also a good one - loads of kids work doing waitressing at the weekends or washing up in a burger joint. It's a commercial kitchen - and therefore another ban. In this day an age - protecting kids is a big thing, yet it's quite possible loads of kids are working illegally - and work experience is considered as real 'work'. If there was a serious accident, and a child was working illegally, I wonder if the insurance would pay up.

In my business, I also spend ages dealing with the requirements of the Children's Act - chaperones, DBS checking etc - yet work experience neatly ignores the fact that a child would be working directly with an adult - nobody ever does DBS checks on staff in a business that doesn't normally have children on the premises. If you have say an office, and stick a child in with a member of staff. You as the boss may well have put yourself and the person in the office in a dodgy position. As an employer with no contact with children you would not be aware an employee could have a history? Can you imagine the headlines? If on the other hand, you did a check on everyone, that's a bit big brother isn't it? What if you find something out? All this means that saying yes to work experience is very problematic. Some schools attempt to extend their educational 'perimeter' to cover your premises, to sidestep the law. No idea if this would actually work. An electrician can work in a school without a DBS, because he wouldn't have unsupervised contact with the young person, but that's exactly what would happen in a business premises - your staff would have unsupervised access and that's a tricky one. In my theatre world, I have to keep the kids away from any unsupervised contact, and the people doing the supervising must be licensed and checked. I'm a qualified teacher, sort of an accident really during a career break - and even though I still have a current DBS, I don't do unsupervised contact with the kids - just not done. Lets say you have a 16/17 year old working for you and a nice 15 year old comes on work experience. Would you risk them working together. I'm not talking funny business, just easy for similar ages to become friends. As has happened to me, you would need to explain to your young employee that he/she needs to maintain a distance - Facebook and twitter friendships, and possible swapping details could land you and them in all sorts of potential danger.

I refuse to entertain any kind of work experience until people are 16, even when working outside of the prohibited places. I have even got into trouble with 16 year olds, over the danger age. We had a contract to do a Chippendale type show, and in these shows, you never really see anything naughty, but this one was ten shades of grey worse! So it was my fault not realising that it really was an over 21 type show, and she saw far more than we were comfy with, working backstage. She's a balanced girl, and I called her mum to explain what had happened and no damage done - but working with young people is an added layer of stress. I guess in an office isn;t going to really stress anyone, is it? You do, though, have to have a real think.

On an IT front, do the data protection and security rules mean giving a child access to data a potential problem? Could, for example, a child work on a doctors surgery? Legally yes - but would you want them to be that involved? To be worthwhile experience, the need to see everything, and not just do filing - but even then, they could read the files?

 

[ldjames]

We don't do this but I know of one of our past customers, who we terminated because he was a PITA, who now uses this as a source of free labour. On the whole, I think Work Experience is a good thing, and I enjoyed the time I spent in HSBC's offices as a teen, but it's only worth it if the company takes it seriously and the pupil has a decent chance of learning something valuable from it. As a parent, that's what I'd want to ascertain before agreeing to one of these schemes.

 

[Maxwell83]

Make it non-compulsory - only those that actually want to work will do it and you won't get the rubbish applicants.

 

[Paul Norman]

We have done it on a number of occassions, and normally it works out well - hopefully for both parties.

On the last occassion, however, we were approached by the local authorities with a truck load of red tape to see if we could be approved.

So, now, we no longer provide the opportunities.

Amusingly, I know someone whose own child was going to do work experience - they worked from home. Everyone was happy with the arrangement. Apart from the local authorities, who said the child could not do the assignment because the premises were not suitable. So the child didn't do the assignment and spent the fortnight at home. In the same, unsuitable building.

 

[Bradley Holmes]

I like the idea of giving kids a look into what a real job is like. I didn´t do it when I was younger because I´d already had a job for a year by the time I was 16,

I agree it should be on a volunteer basis and I wouldn´t want to have to do more then 10 minutes of paperwork.

 

[Jake9767]

I started out with an Apprenticeship three years ago, and initially it was absolutely boring, and it didn't change a throughout the whole duration of it.. not too mention they only paid me 3.70 GBP an hour initially (560 GBP a month), and then had to pay minimum wage once reached (820 GBP).

I finally got fed up of being treated like Sh!t and went seeking other opportunities. I now work for an laid back IT Firm (although stressful when things go wrong - not often) and now earning a hefty wage, working 8 hours a day. - I was a customer of this company three years before hand.

Work experience / Apprenticeships can be good but I disagree with the post above saying it's up to the individual, it's also the employers responsibility to take control and actually provide on-the-job training which is interesting! (in my previous employment this was not the case for both myself, and work experience pupils).

One good thing happened though.. I come out of the apprenticeship with a CCNA and Level 3 NVQ, and also a BTEC Diploma after leaving high school with one GCSE.

Thanks,
J.

 

[paulears]

One of the theatres I work at each year takes work experience people, but makes them formally apply, and then give a presentation to the chief exec and two senior people. The ones that go through the process get the experience job, with the possibility of employment when old enough (even if it's illegal, was I mentioned above)

 

[Matt1959]

lots of positivity in this thread! I was kind of expecting a lot of people to say todays youngsters were crap!

It is a shame that red tape can put employers off providing work experience - I might contact my sons school to query this as I think such feedback would be useful to them.

I am so impressed with the input these firms gave my son - both of them assigned a key employee who totally embraced the process and they put alot of effort into it all.....