What makes our work placement programme unique?
Illustration by Hobi Dawe, one of the interns on our programme
This week we’ve been inundated with calls from businesses (many of whom are trying to find out more information about the government kick-start scheme) and applications from young people. Our work placement programme is very unique, and I’ve been delighted to hear so many people say “This is exactly what’s needed - why have I never heard of something like this before?”.
There are elements of our work placement programme that are critically important for achieving our vision of creating a world of work in which everyone is empowered to thrive, but our model can take some time for people to get used to. We wanted to share them to help anyone considering supporting or becoming part of our programme to know whether it’s right for them.
Our programme is highly collaborative and flexible
We’ve tried to design it in a way where the small businesses and young people involved are able to get what they want and need from working together, and are supported to create mutual exchange of value rather than one party having more power and control than the other.
On one end of the spectrum we work with businesses who will never be in the position to hire someone permanently and are using our programme as a way of accessing hands-on support for adhoc projects, on the other end of the spectrum we work with businesses who are actively recruiting and want to use our programme as a way of identifying talent.
The same goes for our young people. On one hand we have interns who are using the programme to supplement their existing part-time jobs with extra income and work that makes use of their skills, and others who are long-term unemployed and are either actively exploring the idea of a self-employed career or want to secure a permanent full-time role. We have some businesses that work with multiple interns depending on their skills, and others who prefer to work consistently with just one person.
This flexible and collaborative approach has the power to create truly transformational connections and opportunities. It also encourages ownership among individuals and empowers them to shape relationships and work that works for them, rather than following more traditional models of work that were designed for a different time and small subset of the population.
People are paid for their time
Not only do we pay all of the young people that undertake work experience with us, but we also pay all of our freelance trainers and coaches a consistent income too. This is a hugely challenging undertaking for an early-stage social enterprise with little funding. Much of the wider economy is built upon free labour, with certain people bearing the brunt of that more than others. But we believe when people are expected to prove themselves through doing unpaid work it excludes people from opportunities and exacerbates economic inequality.
Much of the income to cover this comes from the small businesses who become members of the programme. But given that we operate in a society that does not champion equity and fairness we know that some small businesses and freelancers do not have the privilege of being able to afford as much as others. To make it possible for a diverse range of businesses to get involved we also sometimes create contra partnerships where a business offers us a service (such as a training session for the programme) in return for a reduced fee. We’re also looking at ways of providing value to larger corporates in order to generate sustainable income for those who are part of Collaborative Future.
People demonstrate their potential through doing real work
We don’t ask for CVs from our work placement candidates, instead we want to get people doing real work as quickly as possible to demonstrate to us and the other businesses what they are capable of. Without getting to see Sonia in action during our work placement pilot I would never have known her skills would be a good fit for our team - partly because I would have likely advertised a role that she didn’t see herself reflected in, and partly because no matter how much I might’ve tried to create an open and inclusive process I would’ve been honing in to skills and experience that she may not have demonstrated in her CV or interview. Seeing how Sonia worked, and the ways in which she complimented my approach, made it possible for me to envisage a different type of working relationship where we could each contribute value to the company in different ways.
Doing real work for someone also makes it easier for that individual to get a better sense of what that business might be like as an employer or client. On the face of it it might feel like a risky and costly approach to take for a business - giving each side of the relationship the chance to test one another out before committing - but we believe it saves a lot of pain in the long run and ensures you start off an employment relationship with consciously choosing to create something mutually beneficial. Plus it also opens up opportunities to hire brilliant people you might otherwise have not connected with - the fact our intern pool is so diverse is a testament to this approach.
We are a community, not just a service
A handful of our interns connecting for a catch up
We believe when one person or business owns and profits from relationships you create power imbalances and make decisions based on the wrong motives. The problem with many traditional apprenticeship schemes and recruitment agencies is the way they perpetuate the need for a ‘middle man’. At the moment Collaborative Future are doing a lot of the initial groundwork connecting people and supporting people to transition to more flexible models of work, but it is our hope that our community builds relationships in a way that works for them. We encourage people to connect directly in a variety of ways, we encourage businesses who are part of our community to go ahead and hire people from the community without paying us additional fees, and we are actively building shared information about how we do our work on collaborative platforms like Notion so that others can replicate our work.
At some point we want to transition to a more co-operative model, where our young people and businesses actively own all decisions around how the programme should operate and how any money should be invested. We also want to support more of our interns to become community advocates and help spread the model to elsewhere. Much like how we are supporting Sonia to build up the profile of the programme in Nottingham and facilitate our current community, we’d love to work with more of our interns and businesses in other locations to expand out the model. We believe our community-based approach has the power to create self-sustaining local economies where local businesses are pooling resources, connecting more deeply with one another and creating opportunities and a safe space for local young talent to be able to thrive.
If you want to be part of our work placement programme you can sign up as a business member or apply to be an intern.
We’re a social enterprise reimagining the world of work.
By building a community where small businesses, freelancers and young people to work, learn and grow together we believe we can create a more sustainable economy.