In this example, the VET provider organises a day where the students and the employers can meet and talk with each other. The idea is to pair students with employers to create a good match. The event is also a great opportunity to invite employers who aren’t familiar with apprenticeships and demonstrate the benefits and requirements. Note that this event can either take place at the beginning of the studies, to find a work placement, or at the end of the training, to find a job​.

Preparation

VET Provider
The VET provider should agree which employers to invite to the event. In our case, we selected employers that were looking for apprentices to make sure that they would find students that fit into their company. When preparing, it is important that you consider what time is best for employers to leave their work place and attend the event at your college/school. Estimate how many employers will be present and decide where in the college the event should take place based on the number of participants. Make sure that there is enough room and that the acoustics is made for a lot of persons speaking at the same time. Prepare a script for the event to present to employers (you can select a few with whom you have an established collaboration). Based on feedback from the employers make changes to the script. You can select from sending the script to all the registered participants or present the methodology at the event itself. It is important that you explain rules of conduct at the event when you give your welcome speech. Prepare a short introduction of the students/apprentices they will meet or ask students to prepare an introduction of themselves. Make sure that the employers have these presentations before the event to study if they want to. Allocate space for each employer. Prepare the students by giving them the information they need and allow them to practice job interview situations. We used role play as a way of preparing the students.

Employer
Invite the employers to stay in contact with the school and give feedback and suggestions on how to conduct the event. Prepare a short introduction of your company that you send to the contact person of this event to give to students before the event. Familiarize yourself with information provided by the college about the event and give the contact person suggestions for improvement if you have any.

Students
Prepare for the event based on the instructions/lessons you have received/had from your teacher. Think of how to make a good first impression and how to present yourself. Write down questions to ask the employers. Print out your CV’s and recommendation letters and prepare a learning portfolio.

Implementation

VET Provider
Give a short presentation of the event and its goals. Depending on the number of companies present, either choose to introduce the companies or have the companies present themselves during the job-dating sessions. Make sure each student and employer has at least 20 minutes together to introduce themselves and discuss professional expectations. After 20 minutes, ask students to move to the next employer on their list and repeat the job dating. The organizers of the event should remain present to help facilitate discussions if needed and answer potential questions. Close the session with a short feedback session.       

Employer
Present your company and what you are looking for in a future apprentice/student. Allow apprentices time to present themselves and have questions prepared that you want to ask. Keep on open mind and think which student/apprentice would be the best match for your company.

Students
Present yourself and tell the employers what you wish to learn during your apprenticeship/work-based learning and what you can bring to the company. Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Be open minded and respectful. Look at this as an opportunity to find a placement or even a future workplace. Answer honestly to all the questions and be dressed appropriately

After the event

VET Provider
Review the feedback received from employers and students and make future changes. Send thank you letters/e-mails to the employers present together with a summary of the feedback received. Ask if they want to have an input in upcoming JOB DATING events and invite them for the planning meetings of future events. Stay in contact with the companies to follow up on the success rate of the event. Learn from mistakes and constructive feedback that you receive from the employers and students that took part in the event       

Employer
Give feedback to the VET provider and inform them of your willingness to participate in planning a further event. Let the VET provider know if the JOB DATING event helped find a student/apprentice and how the apprenticeship/work-based learning period worked out. Inform the VET provider if you are interested in receiving more students/apprentices. Stay in touch with the student/apprentice you want to invite to join your company for a work-based learning period/apprenticeship and allocate a mentor and contact person to mentor the student/apprentice and stay in regular contact with the allocated teacher at the college.

Recommendations

Use social media before and after the meeting to inform employers of the upcoming event .

In this example, the pilot focused on hairdressing students but can be transferred to almost any VET field. The aim was to provide:

1. students with assistance to get to know local companies to find an apprenticeship or a placement
2. an insight to local companies so that both students and potential employers could see if they would make a good match that would encourage and support learning
3. give students an insight into the level of responsibility they would need to have for working in different companies.

In this pilot, students visited different local companies 10 times for 6 hours per day. This gave them the opportunity to monitor working culture at different workplaces, service and craftsmanship of professionals while they took part in smaller tasks given to them by the employer and assisting the employer/employee as much as possible during the six hours present. During this time, students got to know aspects of working in a hairdressing salon, e.g. answering telephone in a professional manner, time booking systems used and different brands of hairdressing products. Topics such as ergonomics, work safety and social skills was also addressed in all the companies’ students visited during their job dating sessions.

Preparation

VET Provider
Before the event, the VET provider contacted local companies to inform them about the concept behind Job Dating in companies and asked if the companies would like to collaborate with the school by hosting students for 6 hours to introduce the hairdressing from their perspective. During the initial contact, the timeframe was discussed and a preliminary agreement was made. The VET Provider made a contact with those employers that were interested in hosting students for Job Dating sessions.

The second step was to have a meeting with the mentors that would support students during their visits to their hairdressing saloon. During this meeting, teachers and mentors discussed the curriculum and agreed on how to communicate and agreed common rules for collaboration. The aim behind was to get everybody on the same page and ensure students would get maximum benefits from their visits. It also helped teachers and mentors gain awareness of what the other(s) were doing and get ideas and tips on how best to deliver successful job dating sessions. Teachers and the mentors also agreed on what kind of tasks students could do during the six hours in the salon to give varied experience and insight into working in a hairdressing saloon. Discussions about what kind of learning could and should take place was also discussed and agreed on. If you decide that students will have a project that they work on during the Job Dating sessions agree on the goals of the project and how to assess the work/outcomes of the project.

Teacher should be in contact with the companies and the student in good time before the event. Be willing to answer any questions that the students, employers or mentors might have. Make preparatory visits if possible. Write and give clear information about what students are supposed to do during their Job Dating visits and agree with the mentors on how to assess the assignments and how to stay in contact during the event and after. 

Employer
Employers should get to know the curriculum and let the VET provider/teachers know what they can and are willing to offer the students. Select a mentor for the student and find out what the students can and are allowed to do. Inform your staff members of the student(s) that you will host during the Job Dating session(s) and prepare for the visit in general. Introduce your company to the VET provider and to the students that are going to participate in the Job Dating sessions.

Collaborate and communicate with the school so that you get to know what the student has learnt and or will learn before (s)he comes to your company. Agree with the teachers how assess/evaluate assignments and skills development.

Students
Be open minded and willing to experience diverse workplaces in a real environment. Find out what tasks you should and can do during the Job Dating. Prepare and practice how best to present yourself to the employer/ employees of the company and practice your social skills if possible. Learn about the companies you will visit, products and services offered.

Implementation

VET Provider
VET Provider should maintain regular contact with the employer and student to ensure the experience I s going well and if an employer wishes to take on an apprentice.

Employer
Students begin their Job Dating and visits companies for 10 times, 6 hours per day according to an agreed and set schedule. Follow the plan made during the preparations stage and allow students to monitor and follow the work, services and craftsmanship of professionals with clients. Allow the students to participate and assists as much as possible. Enable students to get to know useful and necessary aspects of working in a hairdressing salon, e.g. answering telephone, card catalogue, shopping and warehousing as well as health and safety aspects. During our pilot students were able to wash hair, apply color to the root, blow dry hair etc.

Mentors should be aware of ergonomics, health and safety and be a positive role model for their profession. Enable students to practice and improve their social skills and give them constructive and encouraging feed-back. This will encourage students to try and will increase their interest in the field. Introduce the students to different hair products, to the work culture and what skills students need to be successful and find an apprenticeship/internship and a job after graduation   

Students
Students should act with open minds and experience a range of different work places. Be sure to work hard and demonstrate your enthusiasm and willingness whilst on placement.

After the event

After the Job Dating sessions, a meeting between teachers, employers and/or mentors are present should be arranged. Analyse the Job Dating sessions openly and critically. Agree on what went well and what could and should be improved and/or done differently. If an employer wants to offer a student an apprenticeship after the job dating session make a contract according to the rules of your college/country.

The teachers involved should also have a meeting with the students to discuss the Job Dating sessions. This meeting can be done as a separate meeting in which only students and teachers participates or as a joint meeting together with the employers/work mentors.

Recommendations

Have a varied range of companies representing the sector in order to provide the student with a good insight into the world of work within their chosen sector. Some companies are specialists and others more general.

In the piloted version, students were able to experience the difference between green salons and “traditional” salon, some specialised in men’s or women’s haircuts. This enables students to learn as much as possible about what is on offer and also the opportunity to learn if they would like specialise in a specific field or not. It also gave companies representing the different fields of expertise (within a specific VET field) to get to know students and see if a student is a good match for them or not. This helps create successful future work-based learning/apprenticeships that can lead to a permanent work contract for the students helping to create qualified skilled workers for the future.

Many students drop out during their internship and in the worst-case scenario, can result in students dropping out of the VET sector they have entered. Often the reason for students dropping out from their internships is the fact that they have not been capable and have not received enough support from their teachers to make the right choice of company for their internship and/or they lack a realistic image of an industry or company. In some cases, they don’t have the awareness of what is involved in working in a specific company representing a specific profession. To avoid this and to prevent drop out of their internships, in Lelystad, the Job carousel was introduced to create better connection with companies where they will do their internships in the future.

The main goal of the Job Carrousel is to provide VET students with opportunities where they get to learn more about the industry they plan to work in and thus making the right choice for their future internship and later workplace/company. Every week a sector is central in the Job Carrousel.

Preparation

VET Provider
Preparations at school consist of planning and conducting lessons, assignments and workshops introducing the Job Carrousel. Contact potential employers on time, make an agreement with them and inform them of the idea behind the Job Carrousel, the aims and benefits it will have on the students and companies involved. Prepare the visit together with the employers involved.

Employer
As this is a VET@work collaboration, it is important to involve the employers and/or work mentors in the different stages of the planning. The school will contact the employers, whether they would like to participate. During the conversation, the benefits of this project/visit will be emphasized to the employer. The school will make an appointment for a date and time and discuss what the duration of the visit will and can be for the employer.

The content of the program will be discussed by the employer and the school. Depending on the organization, the visit could consist of only a tour or actual collaborative tasks or projects.

The teachers will decide on the group size and will provide transport when necessary. They will also decide how many visits there should be in each day or week. The school will provide any extra staff for supervision, depending on the group size. And the school and the organization will discuss how many students can join simultaneously. It is also the responsibility of the school to ask for information and documentation about the company, so the teachers can use this in their preparation.

Students
The duration of the visit should also be adjusted to the student’s level of education, and ability to concentrate. Teachers should dedicate time in their classes to introduce the organizations to the students. They should look at the website and find out the characteristics about the future job possibilities at a specific company. Students should also prepare questions to ask the employer during the visit.

Implementation

VET Provider
Not only the students but also the teachers get a better understanding of what will be expected from their students by companies in the future. During the visit, teachers also get more information about the current corporate culture, and the equipment and methods used in the corporate world.

Employer
During visits, the employer gives a realistic picture how things work in the organization and what a working day looks like. It is important the employer is realistic about the workload, long days, working weekends and the mental pressure that come with the job.

Visiting a company beforehand also allows both parties to experience whether there is a match between the student and the company. 

Students
The day of the visit the students should be well prepared before they are headed out, with the questions they formulated during the classes beforehand. They can orientate on the company’s business, what the work contains and if they want to do their internship there. 

After the event

VET Provider
After the event, the school will contact the employer if he experiences any improvements. 

Employer
Student and employer have a better picture of each other. If the students are better prepared and are the right match, will this improve the cooperation between the school and the employer.

Students
After each visit, the student makes a report of his findings and includes the conclusion in his career report. The students make their final choice after their visits. 

Recommendations

Discuss with the teachers whether the visits have provided more or different insights into the profession. How is this visiting experience useful according: content of lessons, making matches, cooperation with the employer, improvement of the Job Carousel etc.