Youth Guarantee & Modern Work Experience: Let's Make it Work

The government’s new Youth Guarantee marks the most significant shift in early careers policy in over a decade, with every secondary school student expected to complete two weeks of work experience including year 10 and year 12 work experience.

For employers, this shift signals a growing expectation and opportunity playing a more direct role in early talent development.

This comes at a critical time where more than 900,000 young people are currently NEET, and employers continue to report that work-readiness is at historic lows. 

The ambition is bold, but the intent is clear: meaningful exposure to the workplace must begin earlier, and schools and employers will need practical, scalable models to make it work.

The change to statutory guidance is something we discussed in the Talk: Early Careers Podcast with Mel Richardson MBE who has pioneered this space in her role at British Airways. 

To see the full series of episodes you can find them here - https://www.findatrainingprovider.co.uk/talk-early-careers-podcast

How will this impact employers?

Recent surveys found only 24% of young people surveyed had access to work experience, and a large reason for this lies on the lack of placements offered by employers. 

I hope the guidance being formalised will stimulate more opportunity, with employers hopefully seeing this as not just community investment, but also an extension of their talent pipeline.

The meaning of work experience is also more generalised, with flexibility being allowed for virtual work experience. 

The formal structure of 5 days' work experience is also relaxed to a certain degree, with one day sessions being allowed towards the figure too.

For example, year 10 work experience in marketing might include a 2-day project at a local marketing company, and then a year 12 work experience might be a full 5-day onsite placement working alongside the Marketing Manager.

Online work experience is equally valid, allowing for students to gain access to wider opportunities they may not be able to realistically access whilst in school. It also provides solutions to many problems around the risk to having young people onsite particularly seen in the world of engineering work experience.

How Work Experience Feeds the Talent Pipeline

Work experience is a vital cog in the development of work readiness. The Careers & Enterprise Company work with schools to develop meaningful careers programmes, and they have been tasked with leading on modern work experience, often called the Equalex framework.

As part of their support, they run future-skills questionnaires with the students. One of they key results shows in many areas that 'work-readiness' is at an all time low. Students aren’t ready for the world of work, often because they have not had a varied experience of the workplace by the time it comes to making key decisions. 

A study by the Institute of Student Employers found that only a quarter of employers agreed that school leavers were work-ready at point of hire.

Work Experience should not be seen as a burden, but a route of progression for the talent pipeline. A week of work experience could lead nicely into a T-Level placement. After which you might offer that young person an apprenticeship. Within that roadmap you have early access to shaping education, learning and you can mould them into a colleague with the niche skills relevant to your business at a young age.

Putting it into Practice

The important thing to do is to not over think it.

Work readiness and work experience isn't just about volunteering a member of staff for a young person to shadow for a week. It is an opportunity to be exposed to a workplace, warts and all. 

It may be the first time they have written an email professionally, or the first time they have sat in a supplier meeting. All of these firsts provide insight into their eventual decision making. I remember meeting a student that didn't realise they had to apply for days off using annual leave. 

The gold-standard would be a practical task onsite the young person can contribute to that relates directly to the business and industry, even better if it has a measured impact on the business.

However, this isn’t possible for all. In amongst risk, insurance and security constraints it is still possible to provide meaningful work experience. 

Practical Models Employers Can Use - Project-Setting

Project-setting is one way to do this.

Think of the core reason behind your business or industry and ask a group of young people to solve a problem. 

For example, if you were a highways agency business. It could look something like this:

"The government have released a tender for suppliers to bid for. It has been identified that due to new housing developments there is significant traffic buildup during rush hours on the main road in the local town. Take a look at all the local traffic data, geography and environmental studies and produce a new road plan to reduce traffic. Cost will also be factor in success"

This project can be set across a day or multiple days allowing for greater detail in a final presentation back to you the company. 

To make it more meaningful, you can provide insights into your business, bring along your own apprentices or employees to help and contribute. You might even choose to hold "customer progress meetings" or throw curveballs in the middle of the project to test adaptability.

At the end the students will have a had a meaningful experience and would have had a go at day-in-the-life of your industry, whilst learning a mix of professional skills.

It is always important to end with a call to action!

ROI - In Simple Terms

Once again it’s not all social impact here, there can be significant returns on investment when done right.

A recent analysis by Springpod found the business case for investing in work experience is a no-brainer.

They found companies who invested in work experience reported a 40% reduction in hiring costs. As well as 87% of those who completed a programme were more likely to apply to a position. 

Financially, an American study found for every $1 invested in high school work experience created between $9 - $13 in social value. 

A significant return, showing true value behind supporting local schools.

Summary

Once again, take a listen to our podcast and if you want help understanding how you can get involved, contact me directly, or speak to your local careers hub.