Offering work experience placements is one of the most impactful ways that companies and organisations can support young people in building their CVs, growing their skills, and ultimately, landing their first jobs.
Some young people, however, face greater barriers to opportunities–including work experience placements–than others, for all kinds of reasons. This leads to greater entrenched inequalities in the long run and disproportionality impacts already marginalised groups including women, people of colour, and disabled people.
Below, we’ve shared eight top tips to help you create an inclusive application process for your work experience placements.
1. Use straightforward language
Remember that the young people applying for your work experience placement likely have little or no experience in the world of work. This means that it is vital to use straightforward language that is easy for them to understand.
Avoid technical language, corporate jargon, and specialist industry terms. Instead, use terms that are descriptive and simple for even those with no experience in your industry to understand.
If in doubt, give your proposed job description or advertisement to someone with no knowledge of your company or industry. Ask them, “is it clear what this job is and what it involves?” If they say no, you likely need to simplify your language.
2. Identify and remove gender-coded words
Instead of using the words “he or she” in your work experience role description, use “they” or “the work experience student.” You can also address students directly using the word “you”, if you prefer–this can be a good option because it is not only gender-neutral but also helps students to envision themselves in the role.
It is also important to be aware of more subtle gender coding in your language. For example, research shows that terms such as ‘aggressive’, ‘challenge’, ‘decisive’, ‘courage’/’courageous’, ‘dominate’, ‘champion’, ‘driven’, ‘fearless’ tend to be associated with men, whereas terms such as ‘collaborative’/’collaborate’, ‘dependable’, ‘honest’, ‘loyal’, ‘interpersonal’, ‘enthusiastic’/’enthusiasm’, ‘committed’, ‘connect’/’connected’, ‘patient’ tend to be associated with women. (Source: Employers’ Council.)
3. Check for other biases in your requirements
As well as eliminating gender-coded terms, it is also important to eliminate other phrases or requirements that can indicate a bias.
Many jobs and placements still ask for “native English speakers” in their ads. This may violate the Equality Act 2010 but is unfortunately still very common. It also discriminates against candidates who speak English as a second language but who may be just as skilled and qualified as native speakers.
Physical requirements in job ads can also be discriminatory. Unless particular physical tasks are absolutely necessary for the job, requirements of this kind are likely to discriminate against disabled people.
Get more information on legal considerations and more with our best practice guidelines for work experience.
4. Offer different interview options
Traditional interview formats do not set everyone up for success and may inadvertently exclude or discriminate against some candidates. Offering different interview options, including in-person, video, voice-only, or asynchronous interviews can open up your opportunity to far more prospective candidates.
These options can make your work experience placement more accessible for disabled students who may find it difficult or impossible to get to your physical premises and neurodivergent students who may find in-person interviews overwhelming, as well as young parents and those with caring responsibilities.
5. Offer materials in different formats
Are your informational and application documents only available in one format? If so, you may be excluding young people who are blind or visually impaired, neurodivergent, dyslexic, or have learning differences. Instead, aim to offer your materials in different formats to suit individual applicants.
This might include the option to choose between a paper or online application form as well as documents in audio, video, large print, and braille format.
6. Recruit from diverse sources
If you only recruit your work experience participants from one or two places, you are unlikely to end up with a diverse pool of candidates to choose from. Instead, aim to recruit from as many different sources as possible, paying particular attention to reaching young people who may be experiencing more barriers to engaging with work experience successfully.
For example, you may choose to use some or all of the following strategies to advertise your work experience opportunity:
- Use our Opportunity Finder (our website attracts millions of views from young people)
- Work with local schools and colleges
- Partner with local organisations such as youth groups, charities, or government agencies that support young people
- Post on traditional job boards
- Post on social media channels
- Put up physical advertisements or posters locally in places that are popular with young people
7. Be proactive in asking about support needs or adjustments
From the very first time a prospective work experience student makes contact with your organisation, you should be showing that you value diversity and inclusion. One way to do this is to ask about any support needs, communication needs, or reasonable adjustments that individuals may need.
If they do have any needs, they will appreciate your proactive approach to ensuring that they are supported. And even if they do not, they will see that your organisation values inclusion and know that they can come to you should any needs arise in the future.
8. Diversify your recruitment panel
Young people are unlikely to feel welcome at your organisation if your interview or hiring panel is made up exclusively of people who look, sound, behave, or experience the world very differently from them.
One of the best ways you can both make young people feel more welcome and ensure that you are hiring fairly is to diversify your recruitment team or panel. People from diverse demographics and with diverse lived experiences will pick up on different things during interviews, ask different questions, and help reduce instances of unconscious bias in your selection process.
If you do not have a diverse enough team of people to do this, it is a sign that there are more significant issues of diversity and inclusion that need addressing within your organisation.
