School Work Placements Case Study

How did you get in to offering work experience?

As a company, St George are always looking for ways to engage with the community especially residents who live locally to their developments. This can include visits to our sites, offering paid employment or an apprenticeship but also work experience opportunities. We have a range of trades working on our developments and we are continuously looking to open up opportunities where we are able to give an individual an insight into construction.

We also work alongside various schools, colleges and organisations that run training initiatives who require our support by offering work experience as part of their course or programme.

What do you get back from offering work experience?

Offering work experience is very rewarding as it allows an individual to get a closer look at a particular role, trade or industry that they have never experienced before. It is particularly rewarding when that work experience can inspire somebody to seek further opportunities such as paid work or an apprenticeship and you can see them grow and develop their career. We also find that it is a chance for us an employer to learn from that individual as they often bring new and fresh ideas to the team.

Would you recommend it to other employers?

I would definitely recommend offering work experience placements to other employers as it can be an invaluable way to build a team based on someone's real life experience of your
company. It can eliminate a certain amount of risk that you may face when recruiting a new member of staff as they have already got first-hand experience of what the role will look like. It also allows you as an employer to have an impact on potentially guiding someone as they start their career.

Any tips?

My advice would be to ensure the individual is properly supported whilst they undertake their work experience and that it relates to their interest so it is engaging and valuable to the
person. It is also a great way for someone to have a positive impact on your team by bringing new ideas and suggestions that you may not have thought of before.