UK | CIPD calls for end to row over ‘unpaid’ work experience | 24 February 2012 | Stock Market Wire

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is warning that recent headlines, which associate voluntary unpaid work experience with slave labour, are in danger of discouraging employers from offering placements and denying young people a route into permanent employment.

Good quality work experience provides an invaluable way for young people to build key skills and gain a foothold in the labour market. It is also a way for young people to develop and display the right attitude and work ethic that will help them to secure permanent employment.

However, employers also have a responsibility to offer high quality work experience schemes that provide real opportunities for young people to increase their employability.

To this end, the CIPD and Jobcentre Plus published guidance in 2011, Work Experience Placements that Work, to help employers develop effective work experience schemes for 18 to 24 year olds that benefit both the young person and the employer.

The guidance highlights the benefits of work experience for individuals and employers alike, but that to achieve those benefits they must:

• Be personalised to support individual circumstances and aspirations

• Provide support and mentoring

• Place a strong emphasis on learning and skills development

• Give a positive insight into the working world. …

via CIPD calls for end to row over ‘unpaid’ work experience | 24 February 2012 | Stock Market Wire.