RAFT is a finalist for Work Placement of the Year in the Charitable Sector

RAFT has just found out that it is a finalist for this year’s National Council for Work Experience (NCWE) Awards for 2012 in the Charitable Sector category.

After receiving a record-breaking number of entries, finalists were announced this week, with winners announced at the NCWE Awards Final held in March. Win or lose, this is an extremely prestigious honour for RAFT considering other charities in the sector include CRUK, Barnardos and British Red Cross.

Finalists are chosen because they can prove that they add value to their work experience programmed and show students, placement tutors and other employers that they have been recognised for their high-quality work experience opportunities. They will also provide a shining example for others to follow of what real work experience should be.

Twenty-year old Kwame Asiedu from Queen Mary University was one of last year’s summer placements.

“With some placements you spend your day making coffee and running a copier,” says Kwame. “But RAFT was different. Everything you do here benefits RAFT, even if experiments go wrong, there is a benefit.”

Niroshehaa Ragunathan started as a summer placement and now works at RAFT alongside the Smart Matrix™ team.

“The most amazing thing about working with such a small group is the atmosphere; people here at RAFT are so intelligent, hard working and passionate about what they do,” she says.

NCWE says that work experience underpins and contributes to career, skills and development choices, which link to work-force development.