There used to be certain rites of passage for those undertaking work experience: getting lost on the way to the toilet, for example, or trying to work out exactly where the tea bags are kept in the mysterious kitchen cupboards.

For those on training courses in the past year, however, things were very different.

For many, placements had to be put on pause. The Early Career Survey 2021 found that, as a result of lockdowns and social distancing requirements, less than a fifth (17 per cent) of students were able to undertake work experience at all in the past 12 months.

But while many employers were forced to cut or truncate work experience programmes, others looked for creative ways to continue to deliver their schemes, often virtually.

The survey reports that 19 per cent of employers had moved their work-experience opportunities online during the first lockdown and a third had planned to move to virtual-only programmes by the autumn of 2020.

But what about beyond the pandemic? Could virtual placements be the future of work experience, even after Covid?

Some of the employers who recently moved placements online certainly think they could. Scottish accountancy and business advisory firm, Johnston Carmichael, is one such employer. They created a virtual workplace challenge for more than 100 students. The scheme, in partnership with Skills Development Scotland, enabled students undertaking Association of Accounting Technicians qualifications to complete the practical aspects of their course virtually.

Students were given the challenge of creating a fictional company and preparing financial statements in relation to their business, explains Karen McBride, audit operations senior manager at Johnston Carmichael and organiser of the virtual workplace challenge.

“Each had to research the industries they were interested in to ensure their business idea was viable and then consider issues such as: what should the legal structure of the company be? Does the business need to be VAT registered? Should the accounts be audited?” she says.

Students’ work was marked by their school or college, and then had to be presented back to the firm at the end of the project. Students were also offered the opportunity to have one-to-one consultations with members of the company.

“These have been invaluable in helping them to understand a bit more about the business world and the realities of building a relationship with colleagues in the workplace,” McBride says.

This is a world away from traditional work experience. So, how much did teachers feel that students were really able to take from the scheme? North Berwick High School was one of the institutions involved in the project. Principal Hannah Fox says the initiative has been “extremely valuable” for her students, who gained new insights into some of the skills required for practising accountants.

The process “challenged the students on a number of the topics studied within the Foundation Apprenticeship”, she says, requiring them to demonstrate practical application of elements such as double entry booking, preparing financial statements and professional ethics.

“It really brought their learning to life,” she says. “It was useful in developing other key skills, such as research, analysis and communication.”

While this might have filled a gap in an unprecedented year, could a programme like this be a good substitute for an in-person placement in the future? And would Fox even want it to be?

“I think it could be a viable alternative in Year 1 of the Foundation Apprenticeship and physical workplace experiences could be set up for Year 2,” says Fox. “It would be great to develop the repertoire of the tasks and firms involved in future, giving students an insight of what it would be like as a management accountant in the public sector and so on.”

While remote placements might not offer experience of working face-to-face with people on the job, which Fox suggests is still useful to have in the later stages of a course, there are some benefits that only online placements can offer. Apprentice Nation - a BT-backed careers platform that uses music to inspire students to help them build core skills through gamified learning opportunities - shifted to virtual-first work experience as a result of the pandemic and found that it was able to offer opportunities to far more students than before as a result.

“This year, our students from City Business School were on virtual placements from start to finish,” says Stephen Greene, chief executive of music-based social enterprise RockCorps and producer of Apprentice Nation.

“Opportunities are no longer just restricted to those who live in or near big cities and, for us, that means we can reach more young people in small towns and rural areas.”

Miguel Doforo, creative director and managing director at MD Creatives, an independent vocational academy in Liverpool, agrees that remote options have allowed students to access work placements who might not otherwise have been able to. While the creative and hands-on nature of the work his students do meant that there were lots of challenges around moving placements online, he says that his team also saw increased engagement from a wider variety of students as a result of the shift.

“Before Covid, it would cause great cost or a lot of time to arrange meetings or lessons with people outside of our region. Now, it can be done with a click of the finger,” he says.

“I don’t think face-to-face [workplace] learning will ever be removed but there have been massive benefits from virtual learning and I can see this becoming the norm post-pandemic,” he adds.

But how realistic would it be to shift more placements online? Obviously, virtual work experience is much harder to offer in some industries than others. Home improvement retailer Wickes, for example, found that virtual placements were less effective for some parts of its business.

“For some apprenticeships, such as customer experience, it has been a smooth transition to virtual learning and one we’re considering keeping in place, as it’s had a positive impact,” says Lisa Rowling, head of operations: installations at Wickes.

However, “with the installation apprenticeship, the most recent cohorts in January and March did their inductions and introductions online owing to restrictions. But the apprenticeship, by nature, is very hands-on, so we won’t be continuing with the virtual learning,” she says. “We have found that face-to-face engagement works best, helping our apprentices get to know each other and build the relationships that are so important for peer support throughout a course which lasts 18 months.”

Virtual reality

There are certainly subtle benefits of face-to-face interaction that can’t be easily replicated online and shouldn’t be overlooked, says McBride. Virtual experiences “open another avenue and allow for a greater volume of placements to be carried out”, she says.

“However, students aren’t able to access that guidance and knowledge you get from physically being in the office and absorbing the conversations that go on.

“But I think there is definitely a case for retaining virtual work placements in some shape or form, especially now that so much more of our working lives are being conducted online,” she says. Ultimately, “the answer might be a blended form of placements that combines a bit of both”.

Lisa O’Loughlin, principal of The Manchester College, agrees that a blended approach could be the best way forward. During the pandemic, the college worked with employers to bring week-long virtual programmes to its students. A construction partner, for example, offered students a range of online projects, including task-based work and some virtual reality experience, while a hospital trust enabled students to observe MRI scans and get involved in the process that followed.

The response to these programmes was so positive that the college now plans to continue working with its employer partners to offer virtual experiences in future.

“During the first lockdown, we developed virtual work experience as a solution to a problem,” O’Laughlin says. “[But] since the second lockdown, we’ve started to think that this could be part of our ongoing package, not to replace face-to-face work placements but, perhaps, as additional employer encounters.”

And while teachers like O’Loughlin don’t see face-to-face work experience disappearing completely, if the point of a placement is to give an accurate impression of today’s workplace, what better way to do that than to incorporate a bit more remote work?

Carly Page is a freelance journalist

This article originally appeared in the 4 June 2021 issue under the headline “Could virtual work experience be the future post-Covid?”