ABOUT

As the UK’s leading social mobility charity, Speakers for Schools are on a mission to close the opportunity gap and level the playing field for all 14-19-year-olds from state schools and colleges by providing fair access to fully funded work experience.

But when 66% of young people still leave school with no work experience*.

And the majority of the best opportunities are only made available to those who are privately educated.

How do we drive change when it comes to work experience?

How do we get the nation behind it?

By creating a hard-hitting campaign – rallying support for getting work experience back on the political agenda and making it happen for young people right across the country.

Cue…

WORK EXPERIENCE FOR ALL

Our Speakers for Schools Creative Team collaborated with advertising agency, Lucky Generals to launch a campaign across England getting behind work experience for all; filming stories with high-profile celebrities including Deborah Meaden, Guz Khan, Mary Portas and Steph McGovern**. Together we launched an innovative, viral LinkedIn takeover by asking connections to update their profile image to their teenage selves together with their work experience job title. Crafted high-impact slogans like “Don’t Let The Nepo Babies Win” and calls to action that featured on digital billboards, display ads, and paid socials. Produced over 300 creative assets that delivered over 52 million impressions across multiple platforms.

Our campaign drove a 415% increase in traffic to the charity’s website, 176% increase in active users on the online work experience portal, an 86% increase in placement applications from young people and influenced campaign recommendations to be included in a House of Commons Committee report.

(May to July 2023)

*Source: YouGov poll of 2,098 young adults recalling their work experiences while in education.

**Credits: Lucky Generals for campaign concept and film creation.