Employer Guidance - Work Experience
As part of the national Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) agenda, The Highland Council, Schools, Colleges and DYW Regional Groups are working in partnership to develop and increase work-related learning opportunities for young people through employer engagement. The DYW initiative gives
work-related learning a high priority and looks to increase the work-related learning options on offer to all young people.
Work Placements provide young people with an amazing opportunity to learn about the workplace and explore different sectors due to the time, expertise and goodwill of our local employers. However we are aware that employers are busy and taking on a young person is a big commitment.
Therefore we ask young people to demonstrate their interest in your opportunity by completing an application form. This allows you to gauge the interest and suitability of each applicant and to consider how you can best support future career aspirations. The process is detailed below:
You may be approached by Schools, The Work Experience Administrator at Highland Council or a DYW School Coordinator about offering work-related learning experiences. If you are able to support opportunities for young people at the point of request we will email the New Employer Pack to you. This includes a Letter of Understanding to sign, a job card template and confirmation that you have employer’s liability insurance.
*We will support you to create a job card which outlines the tasks that young people will be undertaking and the skills they can develop during their placement/opportunity. The job card will allow you to specify your preferences, such as available dates, location and any wider offers. The latter may include visits to the workplace, talks about your sector, supporting mock interviews, work shadowing, careers fair etc.
All Local Authorities have a duty of care to pupils, so we may need to organise a workplace check prior to approving any work experience on the system. This generally takes about 30 minutes. We will refer your details to one of the team and they will arrange a mutual time to meet with you.
Once the placement is signed off the details will go live on the www.hi-hope.org website. Pupils, teachers and supporters of young people will be able to access this website via the password protected tab. Pupils will complete an online application form which the Link Teacher will email to you.
* School Staff, The Work Experience Administrator or DYW School Coordinator
After considering the application, you should contact the link teacher names on the application to advise if and how you want to proceed. Schools may contact you directly if they don’t hear back.
If the priorities of your business or high demand means you are unable to offer at this time, please inform the school giving feedback as appropriate and contact work. Experience@highland.gov.uk so that we can hide or amend your opportunity.
If the applicant wasn’t suitable it would be appreciated if you could provide some constructive feedback to the school/young person to ensure that they can incorporate this into a future learning plan, to help ensure success next time and to build resilience.
If the placement is agreed, arrange appropriate dates and discuss any relevant matters relating to the pupil's placement with the link teacher. The link teacher will inform you directly about any additional support needs of the pupil. Any matters requiring discussion during the work placement should be directed to the school.
If you are interested in finding out more or have any questions email the Work Experience Administrator at work.experience@highland.gov.uk
Just contact us to request to add, amend or remove your opportunities at any time, to suit the needs of your business.
If you have any job vacancies or events aimed at young people these can be promoted free of charge on the hi-hope noticeboard by emailing us directly with further details.