Work experience isn't that hard
Plus: why North London girlies are doing degree apprenticeships
Hello!
Thank you for joining me, I’m so glad you’re here.
The weather outside is stunning, but my head is pounding, I can’t stop sneezing, and I could moisturise a desert with what’s coming out of my nose. Perfect time to sit on the sofa and write a little newsletter.
I hope you have been keeping well, and are at least enjoying the weather for me.
A couple of weeks ago, I hosted five year 10 students for work experience. The company has a long-standing relationship with the school, and usually takes on two students to work in the warehouse all week.
As someone who has supported countless students into placements, I said NO! I will create a programme for them where they will experience a different team each day. On day one, they were in the warehouse. Day two was with managers learning how they lead people. Day three was with my boss and me, looking at HR. Day four was with finance learning about how companies stay profitable, ending with pitching their own business ideas, and on day five they had an AMA (as me anything) with our Managing Director.
Despite everything… they loved the warehouse. They BEGGED to be able to spend more time there on the Friday so as they finished off the AMA I took them to get changed into PPE and let them help my colleagues down there some more.
At the start of the week, I told them that work experience isn’t about finding their dream job. It’s about exploring more of what they don’t want to do, so they know what direction to try instead. I’d be lying if I said I’m not a little sad none of them took to the HR and finance days, and even with the managers their main takeaway was that it seemed too much effort and challenge, despite managers explicitly telling them how much they enjoy leading and developing people. But at least they learned that those routes aren’t for them.
It wasn’t that challenging to put together from my side, either. By sharing the responsibility between teams, each area dedicated a day (not even a full day - the students were with us 9:20 - 2:30). I shared our insurance, and my colleague made a risk assessment for us, but otherwise none of it was arduous.
All this is to say, if you are able to please take on some work experience students! It was great seeing how they grew in confidence over the week and the level of input from our side really wasn’t that much. As we met colleagues throughout the week I asked them what their own work experience was - everyone had such vivid memories. These are experiences we take with us through our careers so it’s important we give back.
In a week when Meta laid off 8000 employees with a flick of a wrist, it’s as important as ever to support small businesses.
I know I’ve said this before so I am sorry for perhaps sounding like a broken record. But supporting small businesses helps them grow, helps them employ more people, who are doing real work not replaced by AI, and keeping that money in your local area.
It happens time and time again, companies grow too big, have greedy shareholders, squeeze the business until the essence of it is no more.
I did a little LinkedIn post yesterday about how much I love British restaurant chain Loungers, and part of me is thinking I need to enjoy these places while they remain decent quality, before they’re taken over by more strict and ruthless owners that will drain the joy out of these inclusive spaces for bigger profit.
There is a lot of talk around British companies that have lost their values as they’ve grown too big - from clothing company Lucy & Yak who were previously inclusively-sized with sustainable choices running through their company but have dropped these away as they’ve grown [The Independent], to British icons Dr. Martens dropping quality after private equity and switching their UK factories to Chinese ones [The Guardian].
While ensh*tification is always highly disappointing, especially when you become so attached to these brands, these changes inevitably come with changes to job availability, whether it’s the factory closures or offshoring British teams, or Flying Tiger potentially being striped of everything we love about it until no one shops where anymore and they all close.
There’s not much we can do about a lot of the above. But one thing that is within our power is where we spend our money. It can be as small as ditching the Costa coffee in favour of that independent coffee shop. Or maybe even having an Amazon-free month replacing what you would have bought from Jeff with someone local to you.
These actions will keep money and ultimately jobs in your local area, allowing economies to grow and not leaving us at the mercy of billionaires who see layoffs as just a side effect to growth.
Links
Threads
If you’re still scratching your head about Threads, The European Commission is an excellent example of people who get it. Threads isn’t a Twitter replacement; it has a kooky vibe and its own style that needs to be respected in order to succeed there. Have a look at their content for inspiration.
Careers professionals, here’s another cracking thread about careers that earn over £250k and how they got them. Lots of talk of luck, high grades, and grinding. Worth reminding students that this kind of salary is far from the norm and comes with sacrifices.
Another great thread asking apprentices what they wish they’d known before they started. Great to take in for advising students.
A library of resources about apprenticeships. Very handy.
Students booing AI at their welcome ceremony (power to them!)
In honour of HR Day which took place last week, this post about what it’s like looking after everyone while being constantly accused of being the worst people really got me in the feels.
TikTok
Florrie is an influencer who went viral earlier this year for posting about what “North London girlies” were doing that is trendy, and was subsequently ridiculed for it sounding quite snooty. She has redeemed herself by partnering with other, more down to earth creators such as MC, a black creator who reviews gentrified bakeries. I was pleased to see a video from Florrie talking about her degree apprenticeship, though it doesn’t offer much tangible info. As a side note, a lady called Karen Hinton who I used to work with at the University of Suffolk submitted an incredibly interesting PhD [LinkedIn] on how degree apprenticeships aren’t really opening up HE to underrepresented people as they were intended. She is an incredible woman, and while the situation is absolutely not the fault of people like Florrie, it is up to organisations like the one Karen mentioned in her post, to use degree apprenticeships as the opportunity they could be for people.
I’ll leave you with this video of a young woman recording herself not getting the grades she’d hoped for - in the comments I asked her where she is now, and she is in college, on track to do something brilliant. Just a reminder for those who work with young people that the piece of paper they receive in the summer with some letters or numbers on doesn’t define them. Even if you’re not Jeremy Clarkson.
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Until next time,
Charlotte