www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Careers advice information
1. Work Related Learning
Short Term Work Experience Scheme - It is usually arranged through The Trident Trust and undertaken by students in Year 10 (age 14/15) and usually for one week although a few schools request a two week placement.
Longer Term Work Experience Placements - These placements can be for one or two days per week and can last up to the duration of a specific course of study.
The County Council is committed to providing a wide range of work experience opportunities. We also try to accommodate personal requests where a student has a specific job that they would like to find out more about. Some of the work you’ll do will be hands on, i.e. you’ll learn by doing. At other times, you’ll shadow someone, i.e. you’ll observe their work to gain a better understanding of what their job entails.
There are several reasons why it’s worth doing work experience:
- Enhancing your CV
- Work experience is a good way of showing future potential employers that you’ve been proactive and have developed skills that can be used in the workplace.
- Developing Skills
- Work experience will help you to develop a range of skills that employers are looking for (e.g. communication, working with others, problem solving etc). Developing such skills will make it more likely that you’ll gain employment and be successful in your chosen career.
- Testing your Career Options
- Work experience will help you get a better idea of the career you want. By the end of the placement you should have a better idea of whether it really is something you’d like to do later in life. And if not, you’ll still have learnt many useful skills that you can use in other workplaces.
- Learning from Others
- The people you will be working alongside have years of experience between them. Learn from their experience by making sure you ask many questions.
Careers Fairs and other Events - We will always try to attend careers fairs and other work related learning events that schools and colleges organise to give young people the opportunity to find out more about the range of careers and job opportunities that we have. The County Council is a very large organisation and has a wide range of diverse jobs including social work, accountancy, trading standards, human resources, waste planning and teaching. We have a range of leaflets that explain each job and what qualifications and experience is needed to get in to each career, they also give a contact name and details of a person in that job to get more information if required.
Work Related Learning Open Days - We are running a series of themed ‘Open Days’ where students are invited, via their schools, to attend. The open days each focus on an area of the County Council’s service and employees from that service area speak about what it’s like to be a social worker, trading standards officer,library assistant etc... The open days also include meeting a CountyCouncillor, practical demonstrations, a tour of County Hall and the opportunity to ask any questions. The six themes that we run are on:
Social Care, Finance & IT, Planning and Transportation, Administration and Management, Education and Youth Development and a Miscellaneous Session to include Highways Management, Trading Standards, Health and Safety and Libraries.
2. Modern Apprenticeship Schemes
Modern apprenticeships are available to young people aged between 16-24 who are leaving or have left full time education. There are different types of apprenticeship and entry requirements vary for each. The scheme works by providing the apprentice with a paid job allowing them a day off per week to attend training towards their NVQ whether that be at the workplace, at a local college or at the learning provider’s training centre. Again this will depend upon the type of apprenticeship. At the end of the training the apprentice is retained permanently.
The Department of Adult and Community Services (DACS) took on 7 Modern Apprentices to work in admin and finance in 2004 and a further 5 in 2005. The scheme has proved incredibly successful with some already successfully completing their training. DACS committed to the scheme for reasons identified in their Workforce Plan 2004 - 2006.
- To address the age imbalance within the Department
- To aid recruitment and retention
- To utilise the skills and confidence that younger people have regarding IT
- To address the lack of opportunity for young people generally to join DACS
Unfortunately during 2006 there has been no finance available to commit to any further Modern Apprentice posts but we do hope to promote and extend this scheme both in DACS and in other departments in the future.
3. National Graduate Development Scheme
The National Graduate Development Programme (NGDP) was introduced to the County Council in October 2004 with the appointment of 3 National Management Trainees (NMT’s). A further NMT was appointed in October 2006. The aims of the authority were to:
- start to change the image of local government among graduates so that they see it as an interesting and challenging career opportunity
- invest in the graduates giving them unique development opportunity to experience the different cultures and management styles of each department in to quality staff with leadership potential and the capacity to modernise and improve services and delivery
- involvement in a local authority network and a boost to the authority’s local, regional and national profile
In addition the NMT’s are completing the Post Graduate Diploma in Local Government Management at WarwickBusinessSchool. This programme is currently funded by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), excluding salary, but from the 2007 intake will require a contribution of £2000 from each participating authority.
The NGDP scheme has been extremely successful so far in providing highly motivated enthusiastic resources for departments to utilise at a relatively low cost. Projects undertaken have all been identified as business critical by senior managers and have added value to the County Councils planned work programmes. The schemes’ success is also accredited to the level of commitment from the Chief Executive and Chief Officers and due to the fact that the scheme is centrally funded allowing the flexibility between placements.
Contact Details
By Post
HR Modernisation Team
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN
By Telephone
01225 718017
