Virtual Work Experience with Futures for All

In partnership with Futures for All and their Speakers for Schools programme, we welcomed 35 students from across the UK for a 3-day virtual work experience programme. Focused on building collaboration skills and improving career awareness and preparedness, the programme allowed students to complete work experience in a more accessible format. The programme provided a range of sessions to build skills and knowledge, including:

Introduction to life at Axis CLC
Careers talks from Divisional Managers, Quantity Surveyors, Operations Managers, Resident Liaison Officers and Project Coordinators
Communication and Interview Skills Sessions
Introduction to Social Value
CV Advice and Analysis Session
Interactive workshops on workplace readiness

In addition to these sessions, students worked collaboratively to create a pitch for the refurbishment of a run-down community centre. Students had to include at least one social value initiative in their projects, which were presented to peers at the end of the programme. Each team was given feedback from staff to help them improve their project planning skills.

Partnering with Futures for All to deliver work experience in a virtual format has allowed us to improve accessibility, with 40% of participants having never attended a work experience placement before. 15% of participants also reported having Special Educational Needs, for whom a virtual programme may be more accessible and approachable.

Access to work experience opportunities has been shown to greatly improve future career outcomes and reduce the risk of students becoming NEET. Following this programme, 96% of young people were confident that they could achieve their career ambitions after taking part in the placement. We are proud to provide opportunities for early industry exposure to support students in building sustainable careers.

I thoroughly enjoyed delivering this programme. Every young person who took part was fantastic, and the level of engagement throughout was exceptional. Attendance across all three virtual days was excellent, something that can be challenging to achieve even with adult learners.

At Axis CLC, we are committed to delivering modern, meaningful work experience programmes that support young people in developing the skills and confidence they need for the future. Our approach aligns with Gatsby Benchmark 6 by providing experiences that connect learning with the workplace and prepare young people for employment.

We focus on real-life challenges that many young people face, such as understanding what to wear to an interview, building confidence and developing employability skills. By making these activities engaging, interactive and accessible, we help ensure that the world of work feels less intimidating and more achievable.

Many young people state that one of the biggest barriers they face is not being able to picture themselves in a workplace. Being able to bring meaningful work experience directly to them, in an accessible virtual format, helps break down that barrier and encourages them to see what is possible.

It has been a pleasure to work alongside Futures for All. We are excited about the opportunity to deliver more programmes together in the future.

The feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, the main suggestion for improvement was that they wanted more, more sessions, more time and more opportunities to take part. For us, that’s the best feedback we could receive, and we’ll certainly explore how we can build on this success in future programmes.

Social Value Manager

Axis CLC

I enjoyed the workshop on building a CV. It contained lots of useful information such as the structure, content length etc. The talks assisted my understanding on the various roles and ability to be open minded to the different roles in construction, as well as the pathways to towards these roles.

Participant

Futures for All Virtual Work Experience

I enjoyed listening to different employers from different departments in order to get an idea of what I could do in the future with construction. I really liked seeing different points of view and working as a team on a project, which I would otherwise be hesitant to do.

Participant

Futures for All Virtual Work Experience