The Department for Education describes three patterns that work experience for 16-19 year old study programmes are expected to follow .
This is the current list of most frequently applied for roles offered by companies on work experience placements. It’s really up to you - we just want the young people to find out what it is like in a real workplace - so if you don’t like any of these roles, feel free to suggest other ones to us!
No. Much the same way that parental consent is not needed for Google or other apps, parental consent is not needed for you to to use Workfinder.
The obligation to obtain parental consent in order to download an app from the app store is dependent on whether or not any information is being required from the person downloading. We do not require the user to disclose any information to us in order to use the search aspect of the services.
No. The requirement to obtain parental consent in order to transmit an application to an employer is dependant on the type of personal data being transmitted.
Where the data is used for any of the following, it is advised that parental/guardian consent is obtained:
In order to protect students from inadvertent discrimination, Workfinder does not transmit the applicant's name or personal data to the employer, nor do we use their details for any marketing activity, or to display pictures on any public website, and we do not collect information about the students’ families and friends.
Much the same way that Royal Mail does not have an obligation to read a letter between a young person and a CEO, and BT does not have the obligation to listen to the dialogue between a young person and a business employer, we also don’t have the obligation to monitor this transaction.
We collect the date of birth after the student has applied for work experience. The date of birth is then used to determine if the student needs parental consent before accepting the offer of a work placement.
This is related to the age at which a person has the legal capacity to enter into a contract under English Law: As such, the answer is as follows:
18 years old in England:
If the applicant is under 18, we ask them to share the job offer they have received with their parent or guardian for ‘signoff’.
This is related to the processing of personal data under English Law. As such, the answer is as follows:
After you click on the ‘apply icon’ Workfinder asks for your date of birth so that we can let the employer know the age of the applicant in order to be able to make an ‘indicative offer’ subject to parental permission being gained by the student.
We then contact you with the offer (subject to parental permission if permission is needed and seek the email address of the person the child needs permission from.
Note: the request for work experience does not contain any information from the student that would allow them to be identified.In order to make the offer, the employer has stated that they have employer’s liability insurance. This is shown on the offer of a work placement you will receive from our service.
If you or they wish to undertake a risk assessment, then we will let the employer know that your acceptance of the offer is subject to a risk assessment taking place.
The applicant’s contact information is passed on to the employer after the applicant accepts the offer of employment.
The offer of employment is made by the employer subject to the student producing proof of age and ability to work in the UK which the employer examines as part of the on-boarding procedure on the first day of the placement.
Yes: The immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 does not distinguish between paid and unpaid work, therefore the applicant must satisfy these checks prior to starting work.
Our service allows both the young person and the employer to agree the dates of work experience placement. The placement is up to the applicant and employer, not us.
No. The students search where-ever they like and we don’t ask them if they are at home or school or anywhere else. No location tracking takes place.
29% of employers say that experience is critical when recruiting young people and a further 45% say it is significant.
The majority of employers think young people are well prepared for work but where they don’t, this is down to lack of experience.
Lack of experience is also the number one reason that employers turn young job applicants away. So, for employers, experience is clearly vital.
Yes, but you will need to obtain another voucher before you take up the placement. See here for how to obtain vouchers.
You will be asked to rate your work experience placement right after it is finished by notification on the app. Sharing your ratings are important so that we can help the employer understand how they’ve done and also so that we can share the ratings with other students who may be thinking about applying to that employer.
If an incident occurs during the work experience placement, please inform us as soon as possible. We will inform the placement organiser and your parent / guardian using the details you gave us.
The terms and conditions can be found here.
By accepting the offer of a work placement: you agree to the following: