‘What did you do during lockdown?’ Is very likely to become a standard conversation piece whether in making small talk at a networking event, job interview or job fair in the future. 

‘Which one?’ you quip back. But the truth of the matter despite the global pandemic and impact that has had on you personally, future employers and university entrance boards are going to be looking for people who made the most of it during this time.   

For the future generations it must feel that door after door is closing with opportunities disappearing as industries all but vanish and others batten down the hatches. More than ever, it is important that businesses consider opening their online doors to young students and welcoming them virtually.  

As we all adapted to working and learning from home, at Elemental Concept we have learnt that location does not need to be a limiting factor. 

Remote working is likely to continue to be a big part of the working week to many businesses in the future. It will be important for young people to learn how to adapt to this new workplace and learn soft skills that make remote working successful like being organised, good time-management and self-motivation. 

We all know that it is not always easy working from home and taking part in virtual work experience placements will help young people understand the realities of that. 

As I’ve talked about previously work experience is not an opportunity for ‘free’ labour, its giving young minds an understanding of what a job or a career entails. Hopefully, it might help your child make decisions about whether or not that role or environment is right for them in the future. 

We recently partnered with a London school – Haberdashers’ Aske’s Knights Academy – to do our first virtual work experience of our Entrepreneurship programme. While there were a few technical glitches, and of course, adjustments to working online with strangers – both the students and Elemental team found it to be an interesting and worthwhile experience. 80% of the students at the school that took part in virtual work experience (with Elemental and other companies) found it to be a worthwhile and enjoyable.”  

We must remember that our children have been going through their own lockdown experience too. The pandemic has created a generation of schoolchildren interested in careers in science, technology, engineering, and manufacturing. Many kids have also been inspired by the hard work of the nurses and doctors working during the pandemic – 18% of schoolchildren surveyed by Medicspot would now consider a career working on vaccines. 

They will have also noticed how essential technology has been to overcome schooling issues as well as to keep the world going and likewise, they’ll have first-hand experience about how to improve certain experiences or how to look at modern schooling in a way that relates to the modern child from their perspective. That as a CEO for a tech solution company really excites me!