Every single year we welcome between 10 and 15 week-long work experience placements at Fluid. Which means around 25% of our time together is spent in the company of students.
Anecdotally, we’re told it isn’t easy to find a placement in an agency. And that really does amaze me. Because giving work experience to someone is one of the most self-rewarding, self-enriching, and downright selfish things you can do as an employer. It’s bloody amazing what you get given back.
Here are some reasons why.
Sometimes it fizzes
It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then someone brings some real magic to the studio. They bring a raw talent that they don’t quite understand yet. And you can feel the excitement fizzing through the team as people start to notice - because we can see what they’re capable of before they’ve realised themselves. It’s really magical. It’s really energising. And it’s one of those immeasurable and irreplaceable times when you just feel lucky to be there at the beginning.
Sometimes it lasts
Work experience has gifted us some of our greatest talents. Anneliese’s summer placement started twelve years ago. Today I look at her and struggle to imagine a more talented creative in the country. That sounds like an exaggeration. I promise it’s not.
Ben and Maisie joined us for a placement four years ago. And we simply had to find a role for them both. Ben is now beginning to lead and grow his own client relationships, and continues to be oblivious to quite how brilliant he’s becoming. The team all know. Even if he doesn’t believe them yet.
Maisie is cut from similar cloth. Quiet but courageous. Aside from her growing talents in CGI, animation and (amazingly) opera, she’s gradually becoming a driving force in Fluid’s charity and community work. Fluid Impact was hers from the start.
Sometimes it’s humbling
Isla started her apprenticeship with Fluid after a week of work experience. And you’d have no idea she wasn’t a seasoned professional. She’s already project managed an award-winning website for the team at VidiVet. But her most humbling impact (in my eyes) was finding the quiet courage to host a ‘lunch and learn’ presentation to teach the team about her dyslexia journey. A brilliant blog followed. And you will not regret reading it.
Sometimes it’s indescribable
I can’t write about work experience without writing about Ella. Even though I don’t have the words to describe quite how brilliant she is. An honorary Fluider across multiple placements since the age of 15, she’s now an award-winning journalist. A rising star at ITV News. And one of the special few that are recognised by the Fulbright scholarship.
In an industry where integrity and courage are becoming increasingly threatened, I think Ella is a beacon of brilliance. I suspect one day the country will all know her name. And maybe we’ll feel even more lucky than we do now.
Sometimes it’s an email
We’ve always aimed to leave tiny little legacies. And you never really know when they’ve made a little difference. So when Ben and Josh spent an afternoon talking about creative careers at a local school, it was quickly forgotten. Until six months later we got an email from Peggy. She’d been inspired by their talk. She’d been researching degrees. And she’d decided that marketing was for her. And it started because of them. That email was emotional. Tiny little legacies. They’re the best ones to leave.
If I could tolerate corporate-speak, I’d be writing about talent pipeline. Colleague development. Cultural enrichment. Local reputation. Industry pathmaking. Work experience has enhanced all of these things and more at Fluid. And I think it’s because of one simple ethos – we aim to make sure work experience is a life experience.
Does it absorb our time? Yes it does. Does it absorb expense? Yes it does. Does it sometimes strain you? Yes it does.
But it gives back immeasurably more.