Students can teach more than they learn … if you let them!
Remember work experience?
Two weeks in Year 10 and maybe 3-12 months in a degree.
I’ve seen work experience kids in many situations.
And I believe they have much to offer business.
Nail biter
When I was 15, I helped my carpenter brother extend the Wallan Hotel.
Dawn starts, cold pies for lunch and psycho men with nail guns soon made me realise I didn’t want to be a builder after all.
Forced to find another path, I chose human resources which, all things considered, wasn’t a bad stepping stone to copywriting.
Girl power
As a Personnel / Equal Employment Opportunity Officer at Holden’s Engine Company, one of my tasks was to dismantle a 40-year tradition of workplace pornography.
Every strategy I tried failed miserably.
Until I expanded the high school work experience program and sent the teenage daughters of shift supervisors into each other’s domains.
The porn vanished overnight, freeing me to increase the 5% female workforce participation rate.
Smokin’!
During a work experience seminar, I heard a trainee engineer describe his 12-week project at a major tobacco firm.
He’d thought of reducing the paper overlap between cigarette and filter by 1 mm.
As ciggies were taxed by weight, this minute initiative saved the firm $1m in its first year!
Entrance exam
As I ramped up my secondary and tertiary work experience programs, department managers started getting kids back for holidays, special projects and, eventually, full-time jobs.
These bright kids, full of ideas, initiative and ambition, gave everyone far less trouble than ‘fresh’ hires who’d never set foot in the factory.
By the time I left HR, I seldom had to look ‘outside’ for top-notch graduate recruits.
New look
Handled the old way, work experience kids are a drag.
It takes effort to find or create ‘work’ for them.
(And God help them if that involves coffee, filing and photocopying.)
If, however, you show them a real business problem and give them the access, resources and latitude to have a crack as they see fit, the results can be stunning.
Pop quiz
1. Describe your most profound work experience memory.
2. Does your business have work experience kids?
- Yes. What do you think of them?
- No. Why don’t you give one a go?
3. Work experience helps kids take their place in our nation’s future. Discuss.
4. I don’t use work experience kids because they’re too:
- Expensive.
- Stupid.
- Dangerous.
- Time consuming.
- Ungrateful.
- Scary.
- Distracting.
- All of the above.
- Other (describe).
Answer as many questions as you can.
If a question is too hard, try the others and return later if you have time.
Results count for 20% of marks in this subject.
Paul Hassing | Founder & Senior Writer – The Feisty Empire
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Author
Paul Hassing
October 18, 2011 at 11:37 am
Test comment:
[TAP TAP ... SCREEEEEOUUUWWEEEEEEIIII!!!]
Is this thing on?
Author
Tash
October 18, 2011 at 11:55 am
Where’s your patience Paul? I was busy typing while you were screeeeeeching…
Author
Paul Hassing
October 18, 2011 at 11:56 am
Sorry, Tash! I do get a bit antsy before the first comment hits. I can’t dive under the hood like I could with the old blog, you see.
Author
Tash
October 18, 2011 at 11:42 am
I only did one week of work experience but I was lucky enough to do it at Healesville Sanctuary. Nothing to do with any job I’ve ever had, but I loved it anyway and it satisfied my love to know the background of places! We went there recently and I pointed out to my kids some of the tree ferns I planted in the aviary!
From the way the animal keepers first treated me, it was obvious that work experience kids vary – some are really are work and cost staff time and patience. Once I had proved myself, I was given opportunities to take on responsibility and actually help the staff. Getting one those less helpful students would be a challenge (especially in a small business where too few people are doing too much work already).
No, I haven’t had work experience kids work in my business – bit strange when I am self-employed and work form home! I don’t know how much work I could honestly give them for a full time week but was willing to try – last year I did offer to one school when they were after ‘writing and journalism industry’ placements but it didn’t work out.
Work experience is a great opportunity for kids to taste the real world and show what they can do away from a classroom. It can also help kids realise a career path is wrong earlier than 3 years of Uni, etc. In some roles, they also get to contribute which is to everyone’s good.
And I love using teenage daughters to change a workplace culture, Paul!
Author
Paul Hassing
October 18, 2011 at 11:48 am
What a beautiful and fascinating comment, Tash! Thank you for your generosity!
Author
Daniel Dobos
October 18, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Sadly we have a schooling system that is focused purely on schooling its pupils instead of helping them to develop into successful individuals. Very little attention is given to exposing students to the real world, with work experience being a rare exception.
Unfortunately, however, those students who do work experience typically do it with their uncle or some connection that makes it easy, rather than pursuing an opportunity that could enlarge their career.
Amazingly, it’s the year 2011, and there was still no online, state-wide directory for work experience, which is why we created http://www.WorkExperienceDirectory.com.au in Jan 2011 – so that students could pursue opportunities that were of interest to their career.
If you are a small business owner interested in offering work experience, please contact us via the site, and we will happily list your opportunity at no charge.
Author
Paul Hassing
October 18, 2011 at 1:27 pm
I’m delighted you joined us, Daniel. I stumbled upon your site when researching this topic and immediately thought it a brilliant idea.
I agree with your analysis of schooling and wish you every success in facilitating a return to experiential learning.
Thank you very much for your comment and kind offer!
Author
Tash
October 18, 2011 at 2:49 pm
I love that idea Daniel – bookmarking it for my kids and my business
I agree that schools aren’t always teaching as broadly as we’d like (although I see efforts at our local school) and encourage kids I know to try different things beyond the classroom.
Author
Malcolm Owens
October 18, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Great post Paul,
Good to see back at GMH you were fighting for female toil.
So what happened when you went to work taking down the porn?
Author
Paul Hassing
October 18, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Ha! Don’t get me started, Malcolm!
The Production Manager announced to the entire company that I would give an EEO presentation in the staff cafeteria.
Though I had less than a day to prepare, I called his bluff.
I then heard on the grapevine that a blue movie was going to be projected over my slides. What fun!
Shortly before I was due to appear, the event was cancelled.
I never learned the identity of the brave soul who hid a black vibrator in my desk drawer.
Suffice to say I felt … unsupported in my quest for a fairer workplace.
Author
Malcolm Owens
October 18, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Wow you must have felt like Darth Vader at a Jedi picnic!
Glad to see you stood your ground and it reeks of corporate failure.
Well done for standing up so early in your career.
Author
Paul Hassing
October 18, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Thanks, Mate. I noted, with little satisfaction, that Holden’s Engine Company bit the dust some years ago.
I wonder if a more representative workforce could’ve helped them weather the elements better.
Author
Daniel | Propaganda House
October 18, 2011 at 2:25 pm
I wonder if your removal of porn from the work place contributed to the explosion of porn on the net Paul? You might want to check the timing and see if there’s any correlation..
Those examples you gave are great – but I think there’s two main problems with work experience:
- kids don’t know what they want
- employers don’t know how to utilize them
I’d only consider taking them on if I knew I had the time to sit down and work out a good program for the time they spent with me, where both they and I would benefit from the experience.
Nice post!
Dan
Author
Paul Hassing
October 18, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Oh dear. If that’s the case, I’m dreadfully sorry everybody!
Thanks for chipping in, Dan. I agree that work experience, like parenthood, should be considered carefully!
Author
Phil Owens
October 18, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Hey Paul,
I am my own work experience kid. When I let myself ‘tap into’ those ideas and challenges that otherwise fear, structure, security or habit sweeps under the carpet…then my work experience kid emerges. When he does, he might be a smart alec, but he is worth listening to!
Author
Paul Hassing
October 19, 2011 at 7:03 am
That’s a nice concept, Phil. I do hope you pay yourself more than five bucks a day when you’re in kid mode!
Author
Arthur | Prepaid Plans
October 19, 2011 at 11:17 pm
My work experience was with Armstrong Nylex in Mentone. Both business and building not there anymore. I was in accounts for two weeks being paid $5 per day I recall. It taught me not to want to be an accountant.
I actually wish that all uni courses offered work experience. We had limited places at Swinburne but it would really have been handy at the time. I actually tried offering my services for free when straight out of uni just to get the experience but no one took me up.
I am unaware of my work offering it. I thing it is really great.
Author
Paul Hassing
October 20, 2011 at 10:47 am
Great to see you again, Arthur! Thanks for telling your story.
You raise a brilliant point about uni experience. While ‘high-end’ uni degrees from Melbourne and Monash incorporated 0-12 weeks work experience, many ‘lesser’ courses from Swinburne, Victoria College and RMIT had a full gap year of it.
Though these latter places seldom sent me straight-A students, they generally fitted in better and came up to speed faster than their blue-blooded cousins. This was a relevation to me.
I don’t know what the situation is now. If there are any education-sector types out there, please bring me up to speed!
Author
Stephen Hamilton
October 20, 2011 at 2:38 pm
I remember doing work experience in my final year of High School at 4KQ here in Brisbane. It was one of the most enjoyable weeks I’ve ever had. I even had a real job offer at the end of the week, which I didn’t take up as it would’ve involved moving to Canberra. In retrospect that was a good move, although at the time I thought 17 was plenty old enough!
I recently had a work experience kid come through our workplace. He was placed by one of our favorite clients; the work experiencer was her son. Bright kid, loads of talent, but to be honest as we’re so busy, we struggled to get the best out of his brief time here.
None the less, I hope it gave him an insight into the workplace, and helps him make smarter career choices in the future than he may have had he not been here.
Very clever idea on the porn angle, by the way. You’ll probably be unsurprised such practice is still common in many workplaces. Thankfully, not mine.
Author
Paul Hassing
October 20, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Yet another wonderful reflection, laced with useful contemporary info. I owe you (yet another) one, Stephen! Thanks!
Author
Paul Hassing
October 27, 2011 at 7:16 am
Looks like someone still knows the value of work experience:
http://www.seek.com.au/job/20970252?cid=jobmail
Author
Concerned Educator
March 3, 2012 at 11:20 pm
Including the comments of someone promoting an online work experience program is very concerning. Not all work experience programs are run through relatives limiting the opportunities of students. Creating an online database of available workplaces is alarming because the school does not know the validity of the workplace. Anyone can create a fake workplace address, post office box, website to attract free labour and/or business. People like this are not interested in the learning opportunities available to our youth. A person will have many different jobs in their working life, often their initial qualification is not the occupation they pursue for life.
Author
Paul Hassing
March 5, 2012 at 9:46 am
Thank you for your comment, CE. It sounds like you really care about this topic. In my involvement with work experience, representatives of the educational bodies involved always visited the businesses to make sure they were legit and that the kids were OK. I imagine this would weed out the shysters, but I welcome your further thoughts if you disagree. Best regards, P.
Author
Michele Allen
April 3, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Great article Paul! Looks like great minds think alike with Winston’s recent blog: http://www.winstonmarsh.com.au/2012/04/beacon-foundation/ – Michele
Author
Paul Hassing
April 24, 2012 at 8:27 am
Thank you, Michele. I was hoping to get a link to Winston’s ripper article. I think it’s an inspiration. With best regards and many thanks for joining us, P.