1. NEW RECRUITS

1.4 Experience

Work Experience

A proposal to increase work experience in the IT and Telecoms sector

This project is designed to increase the quantity and quality of work experience placements in IT and Telecoms.

The initial research project examined work experience from the viewpoint of more than 300 employers and of universities recognised as leaders in terms of work experience, alongside input from key partners such as the DTI and the National Centre for Work Experience (NCWE).

Led by the e-skills NTO, working with sister NTOs, the project operated under guidance of a Steering Group which included 10 employer executives (including from EDS, Logica, BM, Ericsson and Microsoft), the CSSA Director General and the heads of the National Centre for Work Experience and the National Union of Students, and government officials.

A research study was undertaken by National Opinion Polls, including interviews with 300 companies providing IT / Telecoms-based employment. Of the 55% who had offered work placements in the last 12 months, 95% were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’.

Key benefits were:

  • access to new ideas
  • access to new recruits
  • building links with education.

However, almost a third of the companies who hadn’t offered work placements perceived there to be no benefit in doing so, and 84% saw specific drawbacks.

These included:

  • time overhead on existing staff
  • the difficult of providing useful tasks,
  • problems associated with training.

There was a positive response to the concept of a national website for IT / Telecoms work experience, creating an interactive ‘matching service’ for companies and individuals.

Interviews were conducted with six universities with excellent reputations for work experience. The staff who provided input have, between them, responsibility for 4,200 students and 1,300 placements per year. They identified trends associated with work placements, in particular the value of creating new roles in ‘placement units’ to facilitate links between students and employers.

With the rapid increase in the number of students seeking work placements, and the increasing churn in employers, it appears that mechanisms to cut duplication and workload of arranging placements would be appreciated, and might also help extend reach into under-utilised pools such as students of non-IT disciplines.

All of the universities talked extensively about the benefits for student performance, including :

  • direct effect on degree results,
  • the development of work-based skills,
  • the increased attractiveness to employers of students who have had work experience.

Priority actions for increasing work experience have been identified from this work, and a proposal developed for the follow-on implementation project. This will increase the availability of work experience placements, including those for students and women returners, supported by a web-based opportunities directory and information exchanges for employers and individuals.

The objectives of this follow-on project have been defined as:

  • Deliver a targeted marketing campaign to promote the benefits of work experience placements to employers and to potential recruits into IT-related careers.
  • Provide a central point of information for all parties involved in work experience placements, including employers and potential recruits.
  • Address factors which inhibit women from undertaking work experience placements.

The follow on project will run until the end of March 2002 and will engage with partners from organisations including IBM, Microsoft, Ericsson, Nortel Networks, TNL, University of Durham, Gateshead College, The National Centre For Work Experience and STEP.

Contact: Andrew Palmer on or

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