We know that work experience is just a small part in encouraging young people to consider Automotive as a career option, but it is important. Imagine if your workplace offered a placement, they enjoyed it, you did too, you really thought they would be a good fit, but what a shame they are too young to start. Although it is a fair point, it is very short sighted.

What if you got that perfect fit, what if you kept engaging with them until they were 16 years old, inviting them back in, getting them involved with more experience and activities, even getting them in on a Saturday to do paid work. You may just get that person to hit the ground running, albeit not as much as a fully qualified and experienced employee, but it will give them a good grounding, prove that you care, that you want to help a young person flourish and provide them with some security to alleviate fears and anxieties later on. To “pledge a place” can mean so much to a young person and help you with your succession and growth plans too.

So, what now?
Well, we will continue promoting AWE24 and we hope to get more placements on the portal throughout the rest of the year. The important part of this is to have enough businesses in the portal for young people to locate the Company closest to them.

We will continue to encourage the industry membership organisations to actively promote this free service to their members, reminding them that they will be visible to young people and be easier to find, encouraging all our partners to add their placement opportunities in the portal. A huge well done to LKQ/Eurocarparts for adding over 40 placements to date.

School of Thought will continue promoting work experience when we visit schools, colleges, communities, and national careers events, and continue collaborating with our partners to encourage young people in their local communities to access those opportunities and find out more.

We will encourage our growing number of ambassadors to promote the programme during their career’s events.

What we need you to do
To offer a young person one week’s work experience. We know Schools have different dates for work experience, so do not be put off, there are often chances to discuss flexibility with your local Schools and you can let them know about the opportunities you have to fit in with their dates.

Please carry on sharing our posts on all social media platforms. We are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. The AWE24 registration page had over 7,000 hits, and our new School of Thought Website had over 12,000 in just a couple of weeks. We had over 15,000 LinkedIn impressions during AWE24 Automotive Work Experience Week and thousands of reactions to our Instagram posts.

If you aren’t already, then become an ambassador and help us spread the message about how amazing, diverse, and highly technical Automotive is.

Many businesses who have apprentices, came to them via work experience and many others in the industry started their careers with work experience too. So, if you want to find out more about “Pledge a Place” and how a work experience programme can turn into something more then get in touch.

We will be starting to plan AWE25 The Automotive Careers Week in 2025 very soon so if any organisation, business, or person would like to get involved just contact us.
dave@ready4work.uk julie@ready4work.uk