Work experience – benefits for all
All well in WEXO Towers…
We’ve just signed up our 70th company (looking to launch to users when we get to 3 figures) but one of the comments we come up against occasionally is “Why would we want to open up our offices to more work experience students?”. The companies we talk to are generally of two types. Company X is small, dynamic and growing and welcomes talented graduates (on the cheap) with open arms. Company Y tends to be larger, more conservative and already gets quantities of applications for work experience, feels compelled to accept some (especially from clients’ children etc) but does not necessarily subscribe to the benefits.
Company X is most commonly found in the Media sector (especially PR and Advertising). Company Y typically comes from vocationally geared sectors. Company Y is more often sold on what WEXO can provide in terms of marketing, matching and managing applications through the scarily named Web 2.0 tools and STP (Straight Through Processing) techniques that we provide.
An article by Rosie Gamble in the Sunday Times last weekend picked up on this theme. Despite a tacky title, it made a compelling case for student placements not necessarily being a burden. The argument here was that in smaller companies in particular, giving students responsibility gave them the impetus to rise to the challenge - and being new to the working world they often did so with a fresh perspective. With internships in particular (placements of 2 months plus), companies could really benefit, effectively conducting long term interviews that enabled them to then hire the best students in good faith when they left their studies.
The biggest problems then came down to how you sourced and picked your candidates. The answer here of course is WEXO…
