A new guide that includes downloadable templates to save companies time and money when setting up work experience aims to help employers broaden the reach and impact of their work experience programme.
The Tomorrow's Engineers guide, developed by the Royal Academy of Engineering's Diversity Leadership Group, is particularly aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises. It outlines successful work experience models, advises on how to prepare staff and students in advance and details ways to make the experience as positive as possible.
Offering opportunities to young people beyond friends and family of employees is an important part of an inclusive policy and the guide offers practical advice on how that can be achieved. It also includes case studies, sample documents and templates that can be adapted by individual employers for their own work experience programmes.
EngineeringUK chief executive, Paul Jackson, who chaired the group that developed the guide, said: "If we are to widen the talent pool to meet the demand for skills, we need work experience programmes that offer girls and boys from all ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds a real insight into careers in engineering.
"A more representative and diverse workforce will not only address skills shortages but improve the range of perspectives from which future engineers draw inspiration."
Tomorrow's Engineers is a programme of co-ordinated schools outreach and careers inspiration led by the engineering community. It seeks to create the next generation of engineers by helping young people from all background understand the variety, excitement and opportunity presented by a career in engineering. The aim is for everyone between 11 and 14 to have at least one engineering experience with an employer and for an equal number of girls and boys to aspire to become engineers.
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