Welcome to Woodkirk Academy

Employer Engagement

Aim

Engaging and collaborating with employers will add value to the existing Career offering within school. Higher interaction rates on the website between parents, employers and the school will aid recruitment and community involvement, which in turn will build student motivation and raise aspirations for all.

The government states that young people should have encounters with employers during their education. In 2013, Gatsby commissioned a report to set out what career guidance in England would be like if it were good by international standards, this resulted in the Good Career Guidance description. The eight benchmarks set out in the report serve as a careers provision improvement framework and this has been adopted as part of the Government’s careers strategy and statutory guidance for schools.

In order to satisfy the Gatsby Benchmarks, the Quality in Careers Standards and the current government guidelines it is paramount that we create a catalogue of employer contacts who we can call on, as and when required, to satisfy the constant evolving student needs.

How can employers support help our students?

Employers can:

·        Offer support, guidance, and help develop student knowledge,

·        Progress students’ life chances,

·        Help to improve employability skills,

·        Provide positive influences by role modelling to young people, and

·        Equip students for the ‘world of work’ by offering positive transitions.

What can employers do?

Employers can:

·        Attend and host events like the Careers Fair,

·        Create ‘work’ activities to use within the classroom (CV, job applications, team building exercises),

·        Give career journey talks in assemblies and at events, including current sector LMI,

·        Offer work experience to students who express an interest in specific sectors,

·        Generate workplace visits to showcase the employment environment,

·        Propose Alumni / Mentoring opportunities through networking,

·        Produce and run enterprise competitions, and

·        Generate mock interviews to help prepare and build confidence in students.

Conclusion

Latest evidence implies that employer engagement enhances attainment. So, to provide for pupils sufficiently - a combination of approaches is necessary.  This will help every young person to realise their potential and so increase economic competitiveness and support social mobility.

A clear focus on the enterprise skills, experience and qualifications that employers want can support preparation for work. Employers understand what is going on in their specific job markets and where the skills shortages are. Their knowledge can be shared within schools to broaden students’ chances of future work.

According to the National Careers Service, employer links not only inspire, inform and advise students about particular occupations and sectors, but also enhance the provision of careers and work-related education in the curriculum.

If you would like to help, please contact us on:

Email: careers@woodkirk.leodis.org.uk

Telephone:  0113 887 3558

You may find this guide useful, it is designed to provide you with a useful overview of the key steps to follow when recruiting an apprentice, particularly if you are unfamiliar with the apprenticeship system or a small or medium sized business.

How to recruit your first apprentice Guide  

Also this link takes you to The Careers and Enterprise Company, they help to support businesses to engage with schools.