By Lauren Toulson, Marketing Executive at Workfinder
For the past two years, we have faced a unique situation. Thousands of students have missed out on vital work experience.
According to research by the Institute of Student Employers, the pandemic resulted in more than two-thirds (68%) of work experience opportunities being cancelled. The impact to this generation’s future employment prospects could be severe.
Yet, these students are highly motivated with skills and aptitude to assist growing companies. While academic qualifications do matter, it is a young person’s approach to working life—their communication skills, resilience and willingness to participate—which sets them apart.
The ‘workplace’ has changed
But at Workfinder, we believe businesses can only expect this of young people if they see and understand what the ‘workplace’ is in advance. While many companies have faced challenging times—with limited budgets and resources—they will need to get vital work done if they are to survive and even thrive.
This is especially prevalent in startups and scaleups. Businesses can ask students to work on key projects such as digital content creation, social media, lead generation, market mapping, UX/product testing and development, design collateral and much more.
Over the past year, forward-thinking employers have been bringing students in to work on these types of projects remotely. Not only are they conscious that there is an immediate need to get work done, but also that there is an opportunity to secure the brightest people early—as 70% of student interns go on to get offers from their employers!
Students want flexible working options
Virtual working is what allows businesses to access talent from across the UK (and wider!) and introduces students to how many businesses will most likely be working in the future. After all, remote roles get at least 3x more applications than in-person ones.
With over 2 million students in the UK due to enter the labour market in the next few years, this moment provides businesses an excellent opportunity to drive their business forward, support this next generation, and build a future talent pipeline in 2022.
How Workfinder can help
Recognising the challenge for businesses to secure early access to talent, Workfinder offers a technology solution that provides the opportunity to make these positive changes systemic. We are focused on improving employment prospects for young people from all backgrounds by matching them with high-growth companies through our platform.
Unleash your teams’ ability to work from anywhere, anytime
It’s true; teams have grown increasingly used to working remotely, and many employees—from student interns to CEOs—have acquired a taste for the flexibility it’s offered.
But for each individual business, the amount of flexibility employees have over how and where they work will vary from company to company. This is because there’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution to hybrid working, and ‘workplaces’ are no longer one physical space.
Instead, they’re a network of environments and experiences that are frictionless and fulfilling. After all, your team is made up of people with different personalities and preferences—and so how and where they’d like to work will look different to the next person.
As such, one definitive solution is to give them choices. This has been the number one demand for employees worldwide, and is a highly effective way of attracting, retaining and nurturing top talent.
We make this simple with the Hubble Pass; your all-access ticket to a global network of on-demand workspaces. With it, your employees can tap into coworking spaces, private day offices and meeting rooms in 1000 locations worldwide (and counting!)
