Success for our first virtual work experience

In July 2023, we welcomed a group of 33 students to our first three-day virtual work experience. The event was organised by our FCDO Services Outreach Team, in partnership with Speakers for Schools who assisted with facilitating the event.

Speakers for Schools is a UK-wide youth charity dedicated to helping students find their footing in life. They deliver employer engagement activities to UK state secondary schools and colleges across the UK.

It was the first time we have run work experience online and we are delighted that this modern approach was enjoyed by all the students who attended.

Removing barriers for young people

We offered this work experience to give students in the local area the chance to find out about us and consider FCDO Services for future career options. It was also an opportunity to let students know about our apprenticeship scheme which we open for applications in February each year.

Due to the secure nature of our work, it wasn’t feasible to run this work experience on site. The collaboration with Speakers for Schools meant we could host the event online for the first time and we worked hard to make the event as accessible and inclusive as possible.

Learning about FCDO Services and UK NACE

Each day the students had short talks from a wide range of subject matter experts from across the organisation. They learnt what it’s like to be an architect at FCDO Services, work abroad in our regional technical support service team and send classified information and items to people abroad with The Kings Messengers.

Students also learnt about UK NACE, the UK National Authority for Counter-Eavesdropping. UK NACE colleagues gave a talk about the history of the organisation and delivered an interactive activity where students could vote online if they thought a variety of objects contained a surveillance device, or not.

It was a wonderful experience that I am very grateful for.”
Student feedback

Working together on a real-life project

Students were also tasked with a real-life problem-solving project to develop their communication and collaboration skills.

Working in groups, they planned an outreach activity that would be used at an event to encourage students to find out more about our work and our apprenticeships.

Within this activity the students had a selection of tasks to complete such as event planning, selecting the resources and volunteers required and designing a STEM engagement activity.

Each team then presented their ideas at the end of the work experience. All the ideas submitted will now be considered by our outreach team in their future work.

Thank you so much for the week. It was an amazing opportunity!”
Student feedback

Looking ahead

After the success of this year’s programme, we hope to offer work experience online again next year.

If this would be of interest to you or a student you know, please do keep an eye on our website and social media channels for updates closer to the time.