17 year old school student shows CBI and Schools Minister the way forward

Published: 01 October, 2007

When the CBI and the Schools Minister launched a report earlier this year which said that work experience was of great benefit to school students they were undoubtedly aiming their comments at teachers and business leaders.

What they probably didn’t expect was for a teenage school student to take up the baton of encouraging more schools and businesses to be involved in giving students work experience.

Last year Ben Hawkes, then a 16 year old school student from London, found himself looking for work experience. “My friends and I all found it hard to find a placement,” says Ben. “Although I was lucky, some of my friends who did find businesses to work for ended up with experience that was irrelevant to their career ambitions.

“So I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if a student could spend a few seconds registering on a website, and then have a whole database of companies provided, courtesy of the school’.”

And being a determined young man, Ben Hawkes has gone ahead and built not only his web site but also his business. Ben has now launched the site and is encouraging schools and businesses to use his new free-of-charge service.

There’s no charge at all for using the site – schools and businesses can register straight away by visiting www.myworkexp.com