Which school year to target
- Working with Schools
- Last updated 25 Aug 2016
Different programmes will be relevant to different school years, as they will have varying entry requirements.
Year 11 (completing GCSEs)
- Intermediate Apprenticeships
- Advanced Apprenticeships
- Traineeships
Year 13 (completing A-levels)
- Further education courses
- Higher Apprenticeships
- School leaver programmes
- Sponsored degrees
When to target students
Teachers are keen for employers to target students. AllAboutSchoolLeavers research shows that over 90% of teachers want employers to offer careers talks and workshops. They are also keen to hear about opportunities like work shadowing (over 88%) and days out of school/college at employers’ offices (over 79%).
Research also shows that most young people start thinking about their education and career options in the first quarter of the year: January (38.8%), February (23.4%) and March (21.7%) are the busiest months in terms of exploring options.
January is also a popular time for teachers to actively provide careers guidance to their pupils, but the busiest times for this are actually October and November.
It might therefore be a good approach for employers to reach out to teachers and relevant school years in autumn – to start discussions about what the business can offer the school and pupils – and to put plans into action, reaching pupils directly, during the first quarter of the following year.
