How do I get started?

Before you get started with planning your workplace experience activity or programme, there are some key administrative tasks you will need to understand and complete to ensure the health and safety of any young people visiting your workplace.

Use our guide to access the latest guidance.

The Careers & Enterprise Company is here to lead the system, making it easier for you to play your part. We set the frameworks. We provide resources and guidance to help you get started, learn from best practice, and ensure that every contribution you make is purposeful and valued. We partner with place-based Careers Hubs who have the local knowledge and introductions you need to connect directly with schools and colleges.

Use these resources to connect to Careers Hubs and providers and know what questions to ask.

When you are at the start of planning your first workplace experience, or you are refreshing an old programme, it can be helpful to have resources to guide you through key considerations. The following resources cover: 

• An overall checklist
• Examples of flexible models of workplace experience
• A planning template that will help you define clear outcomes
• A volunteer guide

Once you have completed your planning and established clear aims for your modern work experience offer, it’s important to have transparent processes for young people, schools, special schools, and colleges to access and apply for them.
Use this guide to consider how you can have a clear process to access your work experience offer.

When developing workplace activities for young people, make sure they deliver on the outcomes and objectives set by you/your organisation and the school/special school you are working with. To keep learners engaged and ensure they get the most out of the experience, base your activities on your sector, skills needed and real-life work scenarios.  Use our short 'Making it meaningful' guide and example activity plans/materials from other employers to give you some inspiration.  

Evaluating any activity or programme is as important as delivering it. To make this process as easy as possible for you to implement, we have developed a simple guide with templates to support you. This includes things to consider and templates for gathering feedback from learners, employee volunteers and schools and colleges.