Severn Trent’s encouraging young people across the Midlands, to take a dip into the world of water as it celebrates National Work Experience Week that’s running this week (22-26 April).

The Midlands based company, has over last year hosted over 560 young people – giving them an immersive opportunity into the world of work across different teams and departments ranging from technical, to operational to office.

The company is committed to opening its doors as many people as possible, to help encourage people to think about their future to encourage more young people into the career they want.

Research shows that if young people don’t participate in work experience, then they’re 86% more likely to not go into education, any employment or type of training. *

The company’s work experience isn’t just limited to school students - college and university students are also welcome to apply, like current work experience placement, Joanna Hladio.

Joanna, 20 who moved to the UK from Poland to study and now lives in Rugby, is on a week’s work experience placement with Severn Trent’s HR team.

Joanna says: “This week’s work experience with Severn Trent, is my first time in an office like this. It’s important for me not only to get the feel for a company this size, but to improve my business knowledge and get a realistic insight into office work.

“I hope my time here will see me become more confident with speaking in front of people, working with others and sharing opinions. My time here already has shown the scope of HR and opportunities, which is a huge help for me as young person trying to find my future career path.

“Work experience is an incredible opportunity to see how a business works from the inside, and its culture – I fell in love with Severn Trent here in only a week! It’s a real opportunity for self-development.”

The company’s work experience placements range from five days to two weeks, and also discovery days where the company can host large groups of school children.

Coming up, the company is set to host 14 more discovery days, focussing in the Birmingham, Coventry and Derby region. The work experience programme supports the company’s societal strategy, with a bigger ambition to help people living in those areas to reach their full potential.

Through work experience, employability sessions and training as well as local jobs fairs to help as many people be given the tools to make a difference and support them into finding work to prevent falling into poverty.

Charmaine Marufu, Schools Engagement and Work Experience Lead at Severn Trent said: “While our work experience programme runs all year, National Work Experience Week is a great reminder to other businesses and companies that they can make a real difference when it comes to shaping a young person’s future. We know the huge impact work experience can make, which is why we’re partnering with schools in our region to reach as many young people as we can, especially those that may not have the networks or connections otherwise, to give them a taster into what working at a company like ours can be.

“We’re lucky that we have so many different roles and experiences to share, whether it’s an immersive experience learning how we find and fix leaks, working on a challenge with our innovation team, or a placement within our office-based teams – we’re confident we have something that would benefit a young person to spark their interest and help them think about their future.”

Anyone interesting in kickstarting a career at Severn Trent or learning more about the work experience opportunities available can do over at severntrent.com/careers.

ENDS

https://www.educationandemployers.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Contemporary-Transitions-30-01-2017.pdf