Why support Work Placement?
Many employers we speak with are keen to grow their workforce but are either not in a position to support an apprentice, or are not sure how that might look for them.
Work placement students can significantly support your business by bringing fresh ideas, energy, and enthusiasm to your team. They can assist with various tasks, enhance productivity, and provide valuable insights into current trends and practices. Additionally, their involvement can help you identify potential future talent while fostering a culture of learning and collaboration within your organization.
All our students are required to complete placement hours as we believe it's essential to their overall development, allowing them to gain not only qualifications but also valuable industry experience. By integrating practical work into their education, students can apply their knowledge in real-world settings, enhancing their skills and preparing them for future careers.
What's the commitment?
This can be shaped entirely to your need as an employer. Every type of study we offer has a different requirement attached, so level 2 students are not required to complete as many hours as our level 3 students. If you're looking for support over a period of time, or to a significant project, you might consider a T level industry placement as these students are required to complete over 300 hours of placement in their 2 years on course, giving you a real opportunity to enhance your workforce on a greater level by having that extended exposure to support from the same student. These are highly skilled individuals, committed to their area of study, who can genuinely enhance your workforce with their skillset. The ideal is to find them a placement that will support them throughout their course, but it's not a requirement. For us, meeting your support need as one of our local employers is as important as supporting our students. You can find out more about the employer guidance for supporting T levels here
I'm worried about the level of commitment, what now?
There are so many options for students supporting you, and there might be options you haven't considered which is why we have a team of specialists waiting to help and support you to find the right fit. Sometimes the answer is obvious, and in these situations we can often get students in place for you very quickly, we just need to complete a few quick checks to ensure their safety. In other situations your need might be more complex. Maybe you don't even quite know what your need is, but know that your team could do with more support in a particular area? We can help! Reach out to the team and one of us will happily give you a call to discuss your needs, and find the right person to support them, and your business to move forward.
What do I need to do?
Plenty of employers wonder what the catch is when we talk to them about a free workforce that can enhance their current team, and we fully believe in being upfront. The basics are simple. We need evidence of insurance from you, as well as a completed Health and Safety check. In some situations / industries there are additional requirements, but we can discuss these on a case by case basis.
Once a student is in place, you will be given a login to our online system where they will log their hours, and we ask that you confirm those hours in order for them to be applied to their course objectives. This is a simple process, and you'll be given full guidance.
We ask that all students are given support to understand your expectations of them in placement, as you woudl expect, and that they are given feedback on how they have performed to those expectations. How and when this is done depends on the duration and frequency of the placement, and we can work with you to get that right for both you and them so it doesn't feel like an extra burden.
If it's that easy, why aren't more people doing it?
Honestly? We don't know! This is a great way to inject your workforce with fresh, new talent. If you have a team who are feeling stretched by their workloads, placements could support you with technical or administrative support to relieve your team's pressure points. If you have a major project you need to complete, we could potentially provide students for a condensed period of time to support you. Perhaps you need to enhance your workplace facilities, or enhance a community space? We can help there too...our construction students are always looking for new places to display their talents, so whether it's admin support for an office team, events support for your local charity event, classroom support from somebody studying early years, or a beautifully constructed gazebo for a community garden, get in touch with the Work Placement team, and we'll do all we can to support your needs.
Don't just take our word for it!