Virtual work experience is helping underrepresented students develop skills through the cost-of-living crisis, explains Dominique Mansley at the University of Liverpool.
At the University of Liverpool, we are committed to preparing students with the skills and confidence needed to succeed in an increasingly competitive graduate labour market. However, the current cost-of-living crisis has presented significant barriers, particularly for students from underrepresented and low socioeconomic backgrounds.
The Russell Group Cost of Living Survey reports that over 25% of students now work full-time to meet financial demands, leaving them little time to engage in extracurricular activities or traditional work-based experiences crucial for career development.
Bright Network’s ‘What Graduates Want 2024’ survey identifies the lack of work experience as the main reason for low confidence in job applications among graduates. Similarly, the ISE Development Survey 2024 shows that 74% of employers prefer graduates with work experience when offering positions.
Internal Career Registration data further highlights that students who complete meaningful work-based experiences are more likely to secure high-skilled graduate roles following graduation. However, financial and logistical constraints often prevent employers from offering such opportunities at scale, creating a gap between student demand for work experience and employer capacity to supply it.
Virtual Work-Based Experiences in partnership with employers
To address these challenges, we partnered with The Very Group and IPG Health Medical Communications, organisations who share our vision of nurturing diverse early career talent. We collaborated to create two 70-hour Virtual Work-Based Experiences.
These experiences were carefully designed to match the quality and depth of in-person experiences, combining our expertise in instructional design, digital pedagogy and career development with the industry-specific knowledge of our employer partners.
We used various educational technology tools to deliver interactive tasks and training, develop virtual communities and create a sense of belonging that is often lacking in remote learning environments. This enabled us to design experiences that retained the attention and engagement of student participants.
We also incorporated elements such as technical training and workplace etiquette, addressing gaps often overlooked in traditional short-term work experiences.
Embedded directly into assessed curriculum modules, the Virtual Work-Based Experiences (VWBE) ensured high levels of student engagement and provided equitable access to meaningful industry experience. This particularly benefited students who might otherwise struggle to participate in extra curricula employability activities.
By blending academic knowledge with real-world application and research, students take responsibility for sector-specific projects. They complete active scaffolded tasks and recall previous knowledge before self-assessing their progress using employer feedback to support their progress.
Impact
The Virtual Work-Based Experiences have proven to be a transformative and scalable solution, benefiting both employers and students significantly.
Employers have praised the initiatives for their depth and quality. The Group Programme Director for Talent at IPG Health Medical Communications commenting that, “The VWBE provides a more in-depth experience than can be offered via traditional work-based experience – UoL Careers team are exemplary.”
The Very Group’s User Experience Lead added, “The VWBE allows students to truly understand and apply skills in the field of user experience,” highlighting its success in providing students with essential UX skills that would otherwise be difficult to offer.
For students, the initiative has delivered clear and meaningful outcomes, with 100% of participants recommending it to other students. Students reported increased confidence and valued the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge to practical, real-world tasks.
The Virtual Work Based Experiences were evaluated through surveys and focus groups, including the following feedback, demonstrating the impact on the student experience.
“I enjoyed how the IPG Health Med Comms VWBE gave me the opportunity to immerse myself in the world of medical communications. Being able to craft a detailed communication plan for Sansomib allowed me to think strategically while aligning scientific data with the communication needs of diverse stakeholders. Additionally, I enjoyed developing key insights and solutions that could influence real-world outcomes.”
“Learning about behavioural science principles were particularly valuable because I found that it most closely related to Psychology and I found this section very interesting to take notes on. I also found that researching UX research methods was also interesting because I enjoy research methods in psychology.”
We shared our experiences at ISE’s EDI Conference, sparking interest from other sectors and we are now working towards creating a further two Virtual Work-Based Experiences with organisations in innovation consulting and sustainability.
The success of the virtual experiences has led to the University of Liverpool being able to integrate work-based experiences into a complusory module for over 500 Bioscience students, ensuring that they all graduate from the University of Liverpool with meaningful work-based experience.