Work experience: benefits for your business and the student

We’ve been speaking with local businesses to hear their thoughts on the value of offering work experience placements. We hope their insights and experience will encourage more organisations to open their doors to the future workforce.

Quality work experience can play a huge role in helping young people make informed career choices, giving them a real‑world understanding that no book or website can replicate. As you see below, the benefits aren’t one‑sided, with businesses often gaining fresh energy, new perspectives and even future talent, all while strengthening their reputation in the community.

In this blog we hear from Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who run Basingstoke, Winchester, and Andover Hospitals and Frontpage Advantage, a local marketing agency.

Why offer work experience opportunities?

 

Organisations offer work experience to give people a realistic insight into the workplace and help them explore potential career paths. It supports future workforce development, strengthens links with local schools and communities and encourages individuals to consider careers they may not have previously known about.

As Chris from Frontpage Advantage explains, “The main reason we offer work experience is to provide students with the insight of working in marketing and also to see what working in an office is like.”

Similarly, Venus, who is Hampshire Hospitals’ associate director of allied health professionals, tells us they see work experience as an opportunity to inspire future careers, describing it as "a vital first insight, a glimpse behind the scenes" that helps people discover roles and career opportunities in the NHS. “For many, it’s the moment a future radiographer, dietitian or occupational therapist first discovers what inspires them.”

Benefits for businesses

 

Work experience can definitely bring benefits to businesses. You can gain the perspective of a different demographic, for example a teenager, that might make you think differently about your product or services. It’s also an opportunity to reinforce learning and mentoring from within the business as your staff share their knowledge with students. As Chris tells us “It also provides my junior staff with an experience of what it’s like managing someone. Many of my team are graduates in their first full time job and it’s not always easy giving them management experience, so work experience placements match perfectly for this.”

Not only can it bring you fresh energy and ideas, but it can also help with future recruitment. Venus from Hampshire Hospitals tells us: “We’ve seen real, tangible benefits from offering work experience. Four of our current physiotherapists first came to us on work experience placements before the pandemic and later chose to return to us as their employer after completing their degrees. It’s not just future graduates either - in the past two years alone, four young people who completed work experience with us have gone on to join our services as therapy assistants. It’s a powerful example of how early exposure can turn curiosity into confidence and ultimately into a career.”

Benefits for students

Work experience helps young people gain practical insight into the world of work that they cannot get through research alone. It allows them to explore different roles and career paths, understand workplace culture, and develop a clearer idea of what interests and motivates them. By experiencing an organisation firsthand, students can build confidence, make more informed career choices, and gain valuable experience that supports their future employment decisions.

Venus describes work experience as giving young people "the chance to see and feel what happens behind the scenes" and highlights that it can be "a 'try before you buy' moment" as they explore potential career paths.

Venus also explains that, whether students discover a career is right for them or not, "they walk away with insight that's genuinely valuable as they move towards employment."

The trust also provided us with this quote so you can hear first hand from a student:

“I just wanted to thank you for organising my two days of work placement. I really appreciate the time you and the teams took to make me feel welcome and show me around. It was a great experience and I learned a lot about different roles, and how each department works in practice. Please pass on my thanks to everyone I had the chance to work with.” Quote from work experience student at Hampshire Hospitals Trust.

Advice for businesses

 

Both interviewees emphasised that successful work experience placements require planning, structure and a willingness to give young people meaningful opportunities to learn. They encourage businesses to start small, be realistic about what they can offer and create a programme that gives students genuine insight into the organisation rather than just administrative tasks. They also highlight the importance of gathering feedback, putting simple processes in place and not letting concerns about logistics or resources become barriers to offering placements.

As Venus explains, "the important thing is not perfection - it's being open, structured, and willing to give young people a meaningful insight into your world of work."

Chris agrees that students gain the most from hands-on experiences, saying, "what we've found works best is to plan ahead of the week what the student is going to do and provide them a mix of tasks that we need doing and that gives them an overview of what we do. In my view, providing pure admin tasks is quite boring for them and doesn’t give a good breadth of work that we do so we try and get their creative skills work.”

Our thanks to Venus Madden from Hampshire Hospitals and Chris Pearson from Frontpage Advantage for their time. If you know anyone looking for work experience at Hampshire Hospitals they can email: WorkExperience@hhft.nhs.uk

July 2026