The benefits of high quality work placements
Whilst work placements are mandatory for the Certificate III in Individual Support, investing time and effort in doing them well can lead to numerous benefits for service providers, clients, RTOs and students. Many service providers recognise that investment in student work placements is a cost-effective means of building a pipeline of future workers.
Benefits for service providers
- an opportunity to meet and assess a diverse pool of potential future employees and increase workforce diversity to reflect your client profile
- positioning of your service to attract high-quality future workers well-suited for employment in your organisation
- relationships with RTOs that may lead to job referrals in the future
- a reduction in workforce attrition rates and recruitments costs
- an opportunity to influence training delivery by articulating expectations of workplace performance
- improvements in the quality of graduates by helping students to translate theoretical learning to practical skills that are relevant to the workplace
- job variety, management training, mentoring opportunities and career progression for existing staff.
Benefits for clients
- better prepared and skilled workers to provide quality care and support
- exposure to new people, including younger students
- an opportunity to contribute to student learning and quality of care and support for the wider community.
Benefits for RTOs
- the chance to expose their students to professional learning environments
- improved student completion rates and employment outcomes
- exposure to current industry practice and equipment that helps to keep their training and assessment up to date
- the chance to engage with service providers, which can inform their self-assurance and continuous improvement processes
- relationships with service providers who may want additional training to upskill their staff.
Benefits for students
- an opportunity to apply knowledge, reflect on practice and learn from experienced workers in a workplace relevant to their future career
- exposure to future job roles and ability to find out about wider areas of work and future opportunities in the industry
- an opportunity to practice skills over a period of time in real life situations, in different contexts and with different individual clients
- access to real work technologies, equipment, clients and procedures
- exposure to real world work including normal operating procedures and unplanned contingencies.