Growing your industry placement programme

Introduction

This resource provides practical ideas and insights from employers about how to:

    • Increase the number of students on industry placements in the short and medium term
    • Grow the placement programme in a sustainable way by integrating it into early careers and workforce development plans

Who it’s for

It will be useful for any employer that is:

    • Thinking about increasing the number of placements they offer
    • Already starting to grow their industry placement programme

It should help employers in all sectors and of any size, but may be especially relevant to larger, multi-site employers who have the potential to increase student numbers significantly and scale up their programmes over time.

What’s in the resource

Video

The video shows a panel of four employers who talk together about their experience of growing the placement programme in their organisations.

Checklist

The checklist lists 21 key factors that employers should consider when increasing or planning to increase the number of placements they offer. These key factors are organised into seven categories:

    • Growth plan
    • Skills and workforce planning
    • Placement locations
    • Internal resources
    • Providers (schools and colleges)
    • Outreach
    • Placement models

Video: Growing an industry placement programme – employers’ perspectives

The video shows the employer panel discussing six aspects of growth:

    1. Why employers are deciding to host more placements
    2. How employers are growing their placement offer
    3. Planning for growth
    4. Balancing flexibility and standardisation
    5. Integration with workforce planning
    6. Evolution or revolution?

The four employers featured on the panel, from left to right, are:

  • Phil Eves, Employment & Skills Coordinator in BAM Construction (Midlands), a leading construction, facilities management and property developer
  • Tanjila Ali, Assistant Sustainability Data Manager in Wilmott Dixon, one of the UK's top independent construction and property services companies
  • Jo Simovic, Senior Programme Manager in Amazon, a multinational technology business and one of the top 10 private employers in the UK
  • Julie Skinner, Partner & Progression Specialist (Early Careers) in John Lewis & Partners, a major high street retail business, owned by a trust on behalf of its employees

Checklist

Download the checklist and use it to:

    • Plan how to grow your placement programme
    • Check that your growth plan is comprehensive

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