Prepare for work experience

1. Prepare for work experience R/601/0111

2. What you will cover in this unit  understand your employability skills in relation to the planned work experience  know how to undertake the necessary arrangements in preparation for the work experience  understand the importance of basic health and safety in the workplace during your work experience.

3. What makes the ideal employee? • in small groups create a poster showing the ideal employee • what skills, experience and qualities are employers looking for?

4. Things employers look for  qualifications • eg GSCE in Maths or English  experience • from work or from social life  attitudes • personal attribute eg enthusiasm, motivation  behaviours • planning, time management.

5. Skills and knowledge… are what you have developed through education and life experience that build on your natural abilities and: computer skills  communication skills facts and figures reading and writing riding a bicycle cooking number skills  using tools laying a musical instrument sports  driving.

6. Likes and dislikes… are personal preferences . They will have an impact on how you learn and where you might choose to work, eg:  being outdoors/indoors  getting dirty  being alone/working in groups  tidy places/new places/busy places  things staying the same/things changing  quiet/noise  pressure/making my own decisions  having decisions made for me  time.

7. Before the work placement interview Research key information about the organisation, including:  the main functions of the organisation  what the organisation does. What is its business?  what are the organisation’s goals? What is it trying to achieve?

8. Things to research or ask at the interview

9. Organising travel  it is really important you get to your placement on time – why?  how will you get to your work placement?  what time will you have to leave?  what should you do if you are ill or running late?

10. Working conditions what days will you work? what hours will you work? what lunch break do you get? what break times do you get?

11. Dress code  what is the organisation’s dress code?  do you have to wear a uniform?  what about any special Personal Protective Equipment?

12. Reporting procedures you must know who you will report to on the first day of your placement what is the name and role of the person you report to?  who do you advise if you are going to be late or absent?

13. Health & Safety at Work Act  the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in the UK  the Health and Safety Executive is responsible for enforcing the Act

14. How H&S affects real people  watch the video about the importance of H&S and how it has affected real people.

15. Employers’ responsibility for H&S  under health and safety law, every employer must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of all their employees, irrespective of age.As part of this, there are certain considerations that need to be made for young people. what do you think these would be?

16. Health & Safety signs • prohibition signs • mandatory signs • warning signs • information signs for emergency escape or first aid.

17. Personal Protective Equipment  worn in a variety of different industry sectors  protects you and your clothing.

18. Emergency procedures you need to be aware of your organisation’s emergency procedures what do you do in the event of a fire? what do you do if there is an accident at work?

19. Understand your work experience company Y/601/0112

20. What you will cover in this unit understand how the work experience business operates Including:  equal opportunities  disability  industry sector  structure and functions of the organisation.

21. Equal Opportunities The term ‘equal opportunities’ promotes the idea that everyone within an organisation should have an equal chance to apply and be selected for posts, to be trained and/or promoted and to have their employment terminated equally and fairly.

22. Equal Opportunities there should be no discrimination on the grounds of:  gender  homosexuality  age  racial origin  religious affiliation  disability or marital status.

23. Disability Discrimination Act (2005) You’re disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.

24. What does this Disability Discrimination Act mean for employers?  employers have to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled people to obtain and keep employment  service providers have to make reasonable adjustments to remove barriers to access by disabled people use the internet to research the DDA and identify any issues it might raise for your work experience organisation.

25. Industry sectors primary production: this involves acquiring raw materials, eg fishing, farming, mining and drilling for oil secondary production: this is the manufacturing and assembly process, which involves converting raw materials into products, eg making plastics from oil, building houses, bridges and roads tertiary production: this refers to the commercial services that support the production and distribution process, eg insurance, transport, advertising, warehousing and other services such as teaching and health care.

26. Primary, secondary & tertiary

27. Business Structure  sole trader partnership limited company franchise  public sector charity tertiary sector.

28. Organisational chart an organisational chart shows the structure of an organisation it shows the hierarchy; there are different levels in the business which have different degrees of authority. People on the same level have the same degree of authority it is organised into departments, which have their own function it shows the chain of command, which is how power and authority are passed down from the top and the span of control showing line managers and their teams.

29. Organisational chart

30. Undertake and evaluate work experience K/601/0115

31. What you will cover in this unit how to use effective communication skills for work whilst on work experience understand the importance of being able to work well with others during their work experience understand why numeracy and IT skills are essential skills for employees in their workplace understand the value of your work experience and know how to explore the impact of the work experience on your personal development.

32. Communication skills  good communication is essential for effective workplaces  list when VERBAL communication is important  list when WRITTEN communication is important.

33. Team working skills  your group has 10 minutes to answer the question “What is a team?”  use a flipchart to make a note of your ideas  you must present your group’s findings, detailing how you worked on this exercise and how your ideas can improve performance.

34. What is a team? Top 10 characteristics of a team • discuss issues respectfully and openly • desire and commit to working together as an effective team • identify individual and team strengths and weaknesses and put appropriate measures in place • earn and commit to communicate more openly and with more integrity • define roles and responsibilities • clarify expectations • identify common values, goals and objectives • start to listen to each other • learn how to prevent and resolve conflict in an appropriate manner • learn about and commit to provide effective feedback. Discuss and commit to building lasting relationships

35. The development of teams Bruce Tuckman

36. Team Challenge  you will be allocated into teams of 4  each team has to devise a new card game using the resources provided  you will be allocated resources (cards, pens, scissors, sticky tape)  you have to devise a sample set with a box  you are allowed 40 minutes for this task  time will start when you have read the full team brief.

37. Numeracy skills  only 22% of the population (7.5 million adults) are working at Level 2 or above in numeracy – roughly equivalent to A*-C at GCSE – compared with 26% (8.1million adults) in 2003  adults who struggle with numeracy are twice as likely to be unemployed as those who are competent.

38. How might you use numeracy in the workplace?  compile a list of tasks you may need to do which use numeracy skills egtaking money and giving customers change.

39. IT skills  compile a list of tasks you may need to do which use computer skills eg using spreadsheets to record and calculate staff travel expenses.

40. Using IT in the workplace  organisations will have an IT policy and an Internet using policy  employers may monitor employees use of the internet and email  make sure you do not break their rules.

41. How was it for you? • if you had a fantastic experience, and it’s the job for you, that’s great! • if you went to experience a job you thought you would like and then found that it’s not for you, that is not necessarily a bad thing  you might have saved yourself a lot of wasted time, effort and disappointment  by asking some detailed questions about your placement you can develop a clearer picture of what you want to do in terms of your career  you may want to do some research on alternative career paths or explore other courses that you had not previously considered.

42. Evaluating your work experience was this a job I would like to do? did I enjoy working in that type of environment?  what did I enjoy the most? Is there a job that would allow me to do more of that? what are my strengths and weaknesses?  did I see any other job I might prefer doing in the near future in the same organisation?  did I see any jobs I would like to be able to do in the medium- to long-term?

43. Listening to feedback  your work placement is a chance for you to experience working in a particular sector  it’s also a chance for the employer to consider your skills, attitudes and behaviours as a potential employee it is important to listen to any feedback given to you by colleagues and your supervisor – be it praise for work well done or constructive feedback on areas to improve  what can you learn about yourself from the feedback you were given?

44. Where do I go from here?  once you have reflected on your work experience and maximised the learning from it in terms of your career path, you are ready to look to the future  you can begin to identify what you want to do and achieve you may identify skills and knowledge you need to develop or a particular job that you want to get  you might try to find voluntary or part-time work that will give the experience you need  to help you to be specific about what you want it is useful to set SMART goals.