For many teenagers, a few hours inside a real workplace is the first honest glimpse of what working life actually looks like. It shapes what they study and the careers they chase. Right now, too many 14 to 16-year-olds in the UK never get that glimpse at all, and a new national push is trying to close the gap.
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has confirmed its support for the government’s National Mission on Work Experience and is urging employers across the PR profession to make a public pledge of their own. The mission, launched by the government together with The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC), aims to create an extra 200,000 work experience opportunities and to ensure every young person aged 14 to 16 gets some exposure to the workplace, wherever in the country they live.
The stakes for young people are straightforward. Work experience is often the first time they see what a job involves day to day, and for many it shapes what they go on to study and do. The mission is framed as a practical way to plug the gap so that high-quality, modern work experience is not a matter of luck or postcode.
Meanwhile, the barriers for employers are lower than many might assume, the CIPR stresses. Businesses can get involved in flexible ways and do not need a programme already in place before they commit. The CEC will work with each participating employer to identify routes to delivery and build an achievable plan, taking them from initial ambition to a suitable delivery model. Pledges will be published online through the National Work Experience Mission Tracker, showing where in the country opportunities will be available, and the government says it will celebrate progress and recognise the employers and sectors that step up.
Within the PR industry, the argument is a personal one. The profession, the CIPR notes, is one many young people do not know exists until they stumble into it. Opening the doors, even for a few hours, shows the next generation what PR people actually do and the range of people doing it. Members who can are encouraged to look at what they might offer.
Employers wishing to back the mission can do so through a pledge stating their intention to create opportunities for young people in the 14 to 16 age group. Full details of the CIPR’s call are available at https://newsroom.cipr.co.uk/cipr-calls-on-pr-profession-to-support-uk-governments-national-mission-on-work-experience/
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations, founded in 1948, is the world’s only Royal Chartered professional body for public relations practitioners, with more than 11,000 members. It advances professionalism in the field by holding members accountable to employers and the public through a code of conduct and a searchable public register, setting standards through training, qualifications, awards and best practice guidance, facilitating Continuing Professional Development, and awarding Chartered Public Relations Practitioner status (Chart.PR).
Whether the profession’s 11,000 members answer the call in numbers large enough to reach the mission’s 200,000-opportunity target remains the open question.