Make sure you’re opening your doors by offering Work Experience opportunities

Work experience (TET) is a part of Finnish basic education during which middle school students get to experience working life by working for a week or two in a specific company. 

Young people typically seek practical work, as concrete tasks like shelving goods or making sandwiches are more familiar and the results of the work are immediately visible. Knowledge or information work, on the other hand, may be less familiar, and contacts with companies may be lacking. However, young people are increasingly interested in expert work as well. 

– Many young people end up for the TET period at their parent’s or another acquaintance’s workplace, or at a place that is already familiar nearby. With the new TET.fi service, more and more young people can apply for a TET period at a company they are genuinely interested in, even if they don’t have contacts, says Heidi Harju, Program Manager of the TET.fi service at The Children and Youth Foundation. 

TET.fi is a service that brings together open TET positions across Finland. The service is intended for both young people looking for internships and companies offering positions. The TET.fi service is developed by the Children and Youth Foundation in cooperation with Alma Media and Jobly. 

TET week is easy to replicate 

In addition to developing the TET.fi service, Alma Media organizes its own TET weeks annually, taking in 5-6 young people at a time. 

– We have noticed that this is a really nice thing for young people, as they get to experience the week in a group with others. At the beginning of the week, there is always excitement in the air as they get to know the company, its employees, and other TET students, but gradually the atmosphere relaxes. At Alma, TET students always do a group task during the week, which naturally bonds the group together, says Lotta Väinölä, Head of Employer Branding at Alma. 

The next TET week at Alma is at the end of September and the beginning of October, and the schedule for the week was prepared well in advance. The schedule is easy to compile when the framework is in place and certain parts are repeated. 

– At Alma, young people get to meet experts from different fields. A visit to the editorial office is a highlight of the week for many. In addition, young people get to act as experts themselves on topics where we at Alma specifically seek young people’s opinions. During the previous TET week, for example, young people designed interesting ways to communicate the company’s responsibility, continues Minna Kemppainen, Brand and Sustainability Manager at Alma. 

It is particularly important for Alma to participate in the construction and development of TET.fi service and to organize its own TET periods so that all young people, i.e., future job seekers, have equal and diverse opportunities to get to know working life. 

Is your company also involved in building the working life of the future, make sure you are also offering TET possibilities? 

More information, tools for organising your TET-week and possibility to publish your TET-positions TET.fi (in finnish).

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