Work Experience and Industry Placement

Inspire the next generation.

We welcome engagement with local and national businesses to help shape the future of industry and inspire the careers of our students. Offering industry placements or work experience is a great opportunity for businesses to engage with local young people.

Can you offer work experience?

Undertaking work-based learning opportunities is vital in helping our students develop the skills needed to succeed in the world of work. You can offer our students work experience from as little as one week, up to 60 days. Our dedicated industry placements and work experience team is on hand to guide you through the whole process.

We are always looking for guest speakers from the industry to come in and share their experiences with our students, attend our careers fairs and carry out mock interviews.

If you would like to get involved in helping the college and our students, please email wex@ncclondon.ac.uk or call 020 7613 9433.

How does it work?

Industry placements and work experience are relatively easy to set up. We will undertake a workplace risk assessment to ensure our students are placed in a safe environment. You will need to provide a copy of your employer liability insurance.

We will talk you through the process of work experience, including student expectations, your responsibilities and discuss details of what work the student will be doing on placement. During the placement you will be asked to provide regular feedback on the student.

What can I expect?

  • This varies from course to course as this depends on how the students’ study programmes are designed. Work experience placements can vary in length, depending on curriculum areas. Typically they last for one week, up to 45 or 60 days. Some courses are designed where the student attends a placement for one day a week for a long period of time or may do a 3 month block.

  • Students should be treated as one of your employees during the placement. It is important to remember, however, that students could be just 16 years old. They may require reassurance and greater supervision.

    We appreciate there is a limit to what a student on placement can do in some instances, especially in high-risk areas such as construction, engineering, and electrical environments. In such a case students may observe work being undertaken instead.

    Whilst the student is with you, we would like to come along and take photos of them in their workplace, to help them evidence their experience and help us to promote industry placements and work experience.

  • All students are required to write up their experiences whilst on work experience and placement providers are encouraged to give feedback to include comments on time-keeping, attitude, interest in the work, and so on so that we can monitor the students and identify any areas for improvement.

    Students are encouraged to update their CVs after the placement to include the new skills and experiences gained from the work experience placement to further enhance their chances of securing employment in the future.

Inspire the careers of our students.

Developing a partnership with New City College will help influence the learning pathway for young people entering your industry. Many industries are facing skills shortages such as construction, social care and hospitality. Offering young people work placement gives them the opportunity to experience the industry and helps to shape their aspirations and awareness of roles within your business sector.

It’s a great recruitment strategy.

Industry placements can offer a pipeline for low-cost, effective methods of recruiting from an untapped skills pool. Building a partnership with New City College will give you opportunities to advertise and raise awareness of employment opportunities to our learners who are deciding on their career paths. Our students can also contribute to a flexible workforce.

Meet your tender requirements.

Commitment to supporting excluded groups can strengthen bids for public sector contracts. It is likely that successful bids for public sector contracts could include the provision of a social or community benefit.

Demonstrate your commitment to diversity.

Equality of opportunity is essential for a productive workforce. Through industry placements, there is an opportunity to recruit from a wide community of students. This demonstrates a strong corporate commitment to diversity and may also enable your organisation to better understand customers, lead to greater innovation, more creativity, and better performing teams.

Increase your staff retention rates.

Evidence shows that employees recruited through work inclusion initiatives are more loyal. Jobs are more valuable to those who have gained it after undertaking work experience or through a placement. Lower staff turnover will bring direct cost savings to a business. Young people who have done work experience are more likely to remain in that industry and if you are in a position to offer a permanent role or apprenticeship, they are more likely to remain with your business.

Resolve entry-level skills shortages.

Offering a pipeline of talent, industry placements and work experience provide an opportunity for young people to develop their job readiness and technical skills and for businesses to recruit the right candidates for entry-level jobs. Students who have undertaken placements are better placed to make decisions about the career pathway they would like to pursue.