Work experience is something that almost everyone does at some point in their life. Whether it’s a couple of days interning, a week shadowing another employee, or an official work placement for a few months, for many people it’s their first taste of an industry or even the entire world of work, which offers valuable insight into the kind of role they eventually want to do themselves.
But it’s not just future employees who have something to gain from the process. There are also many benefits to the companies who provide work experience, from delegating simple tasks to improving the image of their business and generating positive publicity.
Whether you’re a business owner who is debating whether to offer work placements or an individual wondering how worthwhile getting experience in your industry really is, here are four of the most significant ways that workplace experience can benefit companies and their employees.
Work Experience is Mandatory in Some Industries
The first and perhaps most obvious reason that work experience can be a benefit is that it is a mandatory part of training to work in some industries.
Jobs in the medical world and vet industry jobs
for example require a lot of practical experience before a student can be qualified as a practitioner. Whilst a lot of courses include a period of work experience as part of the qualification, many aspiring students wanting to become vets, nurses, surgeons, etc. also choose to pursue relevant experience over the holidays or in their free time to get a taste for as much of the industry as possible.
The reason that work experience is mandatory in some industries is that the kind of practical skills required cannot be learned in only an educational setting. There’s only so much that can be gained from simulated scenarios, reading or watching videos, and memorizing correct procedures; eventually, the only way to gain relevant skills is to go out into the real world and practice.
Many qualifications in these kinds of professions require a minimum number of hours of work experience in order to pass, and most educational providers will assist students in finding workplaces where they can gain this experience. This is a huge benefit to those who are thinking of pursuing certain jobs, as not only do they gain the skills needed to succeed but they can also get an idea of which tasks or areas of work they enjoy the most and which they want to avoid.
Mandatory work experience is also a benefit to employers as it guarantees that the new staffs they are hiring are certain that they want to do a particular line of work. Understanding the responsibilities and expectations of a professional before you go into it ensures that you know what you are signing up for, which means that role retention is much higher and employers can be more certain that their staff will stay in a role.
Workloads Can Be Reduced
A key benefit of work experience for companies is that taking on interns can assist with workloads and make life easier for other employees. This is particularly beneficial for small to medium-sized businesses that may only have one member of staff per department or a monthly workload that fluctuates depending on projects.
Of course, the nature of the work experience placement will affect how much can actually be given to a new member of the team.
If they are part of an official internship scheme and already have some experience or understanding of the work that the company does then it is expected that they will be given a fair amount of work to do and have a similar workload to other employees. If they are more of a casual work experience student who has never worked in the industry before, then training will be more of a priority and more work may actually be created in showing them how to do certain tasks.
Whilst reducing the overall workload of a team is a clear benefit of offering work experience or internships, it is important to remember that you shouldn’t expect the same level of work from someone who isn’t being paid, nor should you take advantage of their position and give them more than they can handle. Work experience should be mutually beneficial for both parties, and if you’re actually just looking for another employee then you should just hire one!
Future Employees Can Be Found
Another benefit for companies who offer work experience is that it’s a brilliant way to source future employees. Many internships offer a select number of candidates a permanent role at the end of the placement, but even if you’re not running an official scheme you can still hire particularly impressive individuals if you don’t want to let them go.
Hiring work experience candidates has numerous benefits as a recruitment method, the first of which being that you don’t have to go through an onboarding process. The new employee will already know everyone in the company and how things are done, so can carry on doing the same tasks or take on new responsibilities without having to be inducted.
The point of work experience is also to offer training, which means that your new employee will (hopefully) already have the skills and knowledge they need to work for you and won’t take a couple of weeks to get up to speed.
Finally, if someone has been an intern for your company already then they know what it is like to work for you, which radically reduces the chance that a new hire will leave the role after a few months because it was not what they expected. Not only does this save your business money but it also minimizes workplace disruption and ensures that your new employee is someone who fits into the company culture.
New Ways of Working Can Be Identified
A more gradual benefit of work experience that can have a big impact on a company as a whole is the fact that identifying the skills, knowledge, and training that staff can pass on will allow all employees to consider the training they could deliver and see what they could learn from other employees.
Whilst this teaching and learning may begin solely as an aspect of work experience, it can be developed so that employees are sharing their knowledge as a method of professional development, leading to a more skilled workforce overall. If a member of staff is delivering training to a new intern, other employees who may also want to learn something new could also take part.
Removing clear-cut roles and responsibilities by offering chances to upskill and learn from one another can add more value to the business, make projects run more smoothly, and lead to a more agile way of working. Employee strengths will be highlighted and utilized, the workforce will become more collaborative and workloads can also be spread more evenly by ensuring that certain tasks don’t become the sole responsibility of only one person.
Summary
Work experience can be an incredibly rewarding aspect of preparation for working life or as a way of testing the waters of a new kind of role or industry. As a candidate, you can learn directly from others about what a role requires and gain hands-on experience of certain tasks and scenarios, whilst employers get an opportunity to expand their workforce, give employees opportunities to share knowledge, and potentially shake up the way that a business runs.