NCWE Awards : The judging process

Our judges met in February to decide upon the winners of the NCWE awards.This was no easy task as with 69 finalists, only 11 could be chosen as winners in their respective categories.

The entry forms of all the finalists were anonymised prior to the judges receiving them to ensure all decisions were impartial.

The judging panel comprised:

• Rebecca Fielding: Head of Leadership and Culture, Asda
• Rachel Blake: Graduate Recruitment Advisor, Balfour Beatty
• Rebecca Evans: Work placement project officer, University of Leeds
• Alison Clark: Director, NASES (National Association of Student Employment Services)

How the NCWE awards were judged

When deciding this year’s Award winners, the judges were looking for commitment and implementation of good practice. Thus they were looking for those employers who put time and effort into helping students develop employability skills, as well as recognising that employing a student could have discernible benefits to their business. With the above in mind short-listed organisations were judged on the following criteria:

Recruitment and induction

• How thorough are the recruitment and induction processes?
• Does anything stand out as exceptional or lacking?

Placement support

• Consider the variety of student support available. Does anything stand out as exceptional or lacking?

Placement goals and objectives

• The impact/business benefits to the company resulting from the placement.
• Variety of academic/personal development student acquires as a result of the placement.

Student assessment, monitoring and feedback

• How much does end of programme evaluation and feedback effect the development of their placement programme in future years?
• Consider the level and frequency of the organisations assessment, monitoring and feedback mechanisms.
• What makes the work experience placement exceptional and examples?

General placement overview

• What makes the work experience exceptional and examples?

International award

The judges were looking for:

• Evidence of workforce diversity in their placement policy.
• The benefits to the company in having a multi-cultural workforce.
• Any additional support for overseas students.