Pursuing work experience is hugely worthwhile. It’s a short-term commitment, which gives employees the chance to test the water – to experience first-hand, what is actually involved in certain job roles, what a company is like to work for, or what sort of culture suits you.
It is all about finding your path.
Here at Regular Cleaning we support and encourage our employees to become better versions of themselves, to help them grow and develop with the business and to increase their knowledge further. One of the first steps we take with our employees is a development/career conversation. This is where we talk about their future ambitions and how we can support them. An individual development plan is put together after the discussion which could include anything from Internal Training, Work Experience / Mentoring to a formal Apprenticeship Qualification.
Fausto Santos joined Regular Cleaning in 2017 as a cleaning operative for one of our Central London locations. He is currently studying a Business Management degree at the University of Sunderland in London. Fausto is very interested in Property Development and after retirement his ambition is to start his own business within this sector; this therefore led him into further research and he reached out to us about the opportunity to apply for the work experience we offer.
After talking to Fausto and discussing in more detail what his future goals were, we put together a development plan for him and arranged the departments he would benefit spending his time with during his two weeks work experience. Fausto was keen on developing his skills further in HR and L&D. Working alongside these departments gave him the opportunity and experience to see what the departments do on a day to day basis and what is involved behind the scenes. Both departments hold very strong relationships with all of the employees here are Regular Cleaning and HR in particular can never have the same day as the next due to the different contracts and personal matters that come forward.
To run your own company it is key to understand all departments, to enable the smooth running of the business.
During his time with us in head office, Fausto found the experience very useful as it allowed him to see how the company runs, and how each role even within the same sectors have their own objectives and how each team have exposures to a broad range of skills. It taught him to be aware that no day is the same, and that the training of each team member is highly important. To ensure safety and procedures are followed correctly to receive their fullest benefit especially in the business he is looking to go into.
Work experience is the best way to get a real sense of your chosen industry. As you’ll get to speak to employees and ask them questions. You won’t know what it’s like until you get closer to the action; it gives you more confidence. Throughout Fausto’s work experience he told us he faced some challenges, he found there are so many different processes we take that lead us on different pathways to enable us to find the best outcome for each individual situation. This therefore opened his eyes to some of the challenges he could face when owning his own business and what aspects he would need to take into consideration.
We asked Fausto if he had advice for anyone looking into or thinking about work experience. He said “It is always good to have different experiences when you are looking to create something of your own. Work experience allows you to choose what you want, to help you further your understanding when making a decision on what to study. It helps you realise the sectors that you like and don’t like. It also gives you the opportunity to acknowledge what areas you could practice more in the future. You get to learn first-hand, help the teams with their tasks and complete activates on your own, that one day I would be completing by myself, so it’s nice to find out what you should be expecting”
Regular Cleaning would like to wish Fausto all the luck for his future goals. We hope that this has helped and given some more insight into not only what work experience is, but also what a great step into gaining knowledge in different roles within a business.
“Experience is the teacher of all things” – what does Work Experience mean to you?