How Employers can help High School Students on Work Placements
There is no question that work placements are great opportunities for students. Not only can they gain valuable work experience and get a taste of what working in their chosen profession would be like but it also helps them to develop as an adult and be exposed to the working environment for the first time.
However, how much the students – and the employers for that matter – get out of the work placement depends heavily on how employers treat their students and if they help them in the most appropriate way.
In order to help high school students to settle in work placements it is important that they are appropriately prepared. This starts already with the interview. By asking the right questions employers will soon find out if the student is looking for the same thing you are offering. And by having an honest conversation about what the student can expect from the placement there won’t be any disappointments in project work maybe not being as exciting as expected by the student.
Secondly employers should provide a good induction. It might seem a waste of time and expenditure of resources for the induction of a student who might only stay with the company for a number of weeks or months. However, by providing a well organised induction students will feel more comfortable, confident and knowledgeable. They’ll have a better understanding about what the company does, the corporate structure and the internal culture and they’ll consequently will be able to fit in better.
Once the student starts the actual work it is important that employers have a clear understanding of what they can expect and what they cannot expect. They need to show patience with students who might not have skills and knowledge expected, they need to provide guidance and hands-on help and instructions to help the student to carry out tasks.
Further on the work should be balanced. It is common – and fair enough – that students on work placements carry out simple tasks which don’t need much explaining and for which the main staff simply don’t have time. However, it wouldn’t be fair to dump all these tasks on the student and they should be combined with more interesting work and projects for the student. After all, they are there to learn, not just to be a low paid dogsbody. It is very important to give students that opportunity to gain knowledge and skills which will be valuable for them in later job applications and in their first real job. You never know, you might discover a hidden talent who you might want to recruit in the years to come.
You should also help to build the student's confidence as it is important that he feels capable and that he is adding value to the workplace. This can be done through regular and honest, but not excessive and meaningless, praise. Maybe even more important though than showing trust and satisfaction through words is by showing through actions. By giving the student more independence or more challenging tasks they’ll feel rewarded, enjoy their experience and build a confidence that will help them when the time comes to find a full time job.
Working together with a high school student on work placements can seem like a lot of hard work with little reward for employers. However, if the student is given the right help as outlined employers will not only gain the satisfaction of having helped a young person gain important experience and helping them on their way to their first job, but you might also be surprised how much value the employer will get out of a motivated, enthusiastic and fresh-minded young colleague.
