Retail work experience

By Charlie Ball, Labour Market Analyst, HECSU.

Charlie Ball presented a workshop on the work experience project on the retail sector in the South East, funded by Skillsmart Retail and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) that was the subject of an earlier article in Graduate Market Trends [1].

Discussion centred around the insights into the barriers to work placement in the sector that were revealed by the methodology, and into the views expressed by the participants in the survey.

The research team experienced difficulty in gaining direct access to students, and compiling an interview sample proved the greatest challenge of the research project. The timing of the data collection (September/October 2006) also coincided with very busy periods in universities and further education colleges. Universities were more able to respond to research team requests for interviews than further education colleges.

Both further and higher education institutions are large organisations and the difficulties the research team encountered are likely to be similar to those faced by employers wishing to offer work experience opportunities for students.

It also proved difficult to secure interviews with employers, for a range of reasons. Many declined to take part in the survey, citing a lack of time, or that they did not take part in work experience, or that they felt the research to be of no benefit to them. As in institutions, it was sometimes difficult to identify the most appropriate person to speak to about work experience - this seems to be true both for the research team and for staff within the employer organisations. Many employers made commitments to contribute to a telephone interview that they did not then fulfil.

These practical challenges are likely to be encountered by students or institutions wishing to engage with employers about work experience or other aspects of education-industry liaison.

The views expressed by participants were used to illustrate some of the prevailing attitudes within the sector, with a variety being shown and discussed.

The conclusion was that employers and institutions had work to do to overcome the barriers that exist and to sell the benefits of the retail sector in general, and work placement in retail in particular, to students. Some in both employers and institutions remained to be convinced of the value of work experience.

In all, the feeling was best summed up by this quote from the research:

The retail sector is extremely good at marketing its products, and very poor at marketing itself.

The full report for the project is available at The National Council for Work Experience (NCWE).

Reference

1. Barriers to work placement in the retail sector in the South East, Graduate Market Trends, Spring 2007.

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