Year13 Launches Virtual Work Experience Program in Australian Schools
28 November 2024, Sydney
Opportunities in technology, defence, baking and even ice cream making will all be on the cards for Australian high school students this term as Year13’s Virtual Work Experience (VWE) launches in more than 1,250 schools to help boost declining work experience numbers.
Virtual Work Experience enables young people to gain certified work experience with some of Australia’s leading employers, including the Australian Defence Force, Microsoft, NBN Co, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Department of Education Victoria, Bakers Delight and Messina.
The program was created after a survey of more than 3,000 Australian youth by Year13 found that only 32 per cent of respondents said high school work experience had helped their career decisions, and 38 per cent said they never did high school work experience at all. This means work experience isn’t helping two out of three school students.
Since its launch in late 2023 via Year13’s website, VWE has had over 18,000 course completions. The program is now being rolled out to more than 1,250 schools across Australia during Term 4 through Year13’s Career Tools platform, which is used by career advisors and high school students nationwide to assist with their career preparation.
Year13 Co-Founder, Saxon Phipps, said: “With university drop-out rates rising our Virtual Work Experience program aims to reduce the HECS debt and mental health burdens on young people by helping them make more informed decisions about their post-school pathways in a new way. School students can now access virtual work experience in fields as diverse as technology, defence, baking and even ice cream making with Australia’s leading employers – creating opportunities that many students struggle to find today.”
Microsoft AI National Skills Director Australia and New Zealand, Tim Allen, said: “We are incredibly proud to be part of Year13’s Virtual Work Experience program. This initiative takes an innovative approach to preparing young Australians for the workforce and aligns perfectly with Microsoft’s commitment to ensuring everyone in Australia – and globally – has the skills needed to thrive in a digital, AI-enabled economy.”
Commonwealth Bank Executive Manager of Reskilling, Kathryn Howard, said: “Through our partnership with Year13 we are encouraging young people to meet the skills of the future like software engineering, data science and UX and UI design. Tech has become central to everything we do for our customers and we’re excited to play our part in ensuring that Australia’s work-experience programs can keep up with the pace of change we’re seeing in the industry. The virtual work experiences provide a great way for CommBank to contribute to building awareness around key skills and enabling young Australians to get hands-on experience with key roles without having to travel or even leave the school grounds.”
Year13 VWE users shared how the courses helped their career decisions:
Commonwealth Bank Data Scientist VWE user: “It taught me a lot about how much attention to detail there is in data science and how easy it is to completely miss something, how easy they try to blend in with other transactions, which says a lot about why a career such as data scientist needs to exist to look out for suspicious activity. I think it was a very informative course and I really liked the short experience activity as it allows people to see if they are a good fit with that career or if it’s interesting to them.”
Microsoft Cybersecurity Specialist VWE user: “The cybersecurity specialist virtual work experience has broadened my view of cyber security as a career. Knowing that I can take short courses and get the necessary skills to land me in the career has been a game changer. Thanks a lot to Microsoft and Year13 I'm now considering taking a career in cybersecurity.”
Commonwealth Bank Software Engineer VWE user: “I’m pursuing a career with Mechatronic engineering but there are many overlapping concepts and skills with software engineering, especially as both careers have a big part of coding. This makes it easier to have software as a backup choice as there is already shared key knowledge and skills that I have and will learn. This VWE also allowed me to look further into the role of software engineers that differs from my own and it allows me to compare both careers. I find that very useful as it allows more people to consider software engineering as a career that they want to follow and teaches them some basic skills.”
Career advisors shared how the VWE program would benefit their students
“As an all-girls' school we are keen to break down literal and metaphorical barriers for our girls and let them experience a breadth of rewarding careers. We will use Career Tools’ VWE to let our girls experience careers they have never had exposure to,” one career advisor said.
Another said: “Using Career Tools and its VWE program we can turn ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ into ‘let’s find out what makes you tick!’ Through its quizzes, workshops and career-themed interactive games we can help students discover their dream jobs.”
About Year13
Founded in 2011, Year13 is a Gen Z Publisher and Ed-tech whose purpose is to support young people to live happier, healthier and more fulfilled lives, and whose mission is to upgrade the school-to-work transition. Year13’s suite of brands includes Career Tools, Australia’s largest school to work transition platform, with over 1250+ subscribing schools. In 2023, Year13 acquired Good Education Group, including The Good Universities Guide, The Good Schools Guide and Studies in Australia, together with Australia’s most comprehensive database of schools, universities and training providers.