Inside After-school: GlowMetrics Seizes the Chance To Meet New Young Talent

Broadening Access To Work Experience 

At Futures For All, we’re on a mission to make high-quality work experience more accessible for young people in state education. Through our partnerships and activities, we have supported almost 2 million young people to feel empowered about their future, with our evidence showing multiple benefits of work experience for all groups of young people. Data plays an important role in driving and improving our impact – an approach that’s also foundational to digital analytics and data-driven marketing agency, GlowMetrics.

In March 2026, GlowMetrics offered young people a unique opportunity to explore the power of data and work experience by hosting a 4-week remote programme after-school. Remote work experience programmes and evening placements offer the same benefits as in-person daytime experiences, such as helping young people build the confidence and skills that employers value. They also help to reduce barriers for engagement – with students able to participate without disruption to their studies or other daytime commitments, and without the need to travel. Additionally, short-term programmes can provide space for young people to reflect on and process their learning.

Broadening options for work experience not only open doors to opportunities that may have been previously closed to young people, it enables employers to reach a broader pool of young talent, while offering flexibility around their own schedule and workload – making it an ideal model for smaller businesses and companies.

Inside the Work Experience

Every Monday evening over 4 weeks, young people joined 2-hour virtual sessions lead by industry professionals to explore digital marketing and analytics. Workshops and hands-on tasks helped participants build an understanding of evidence-based programming and performance for businesses, including KPIs, trends, creative content and measurement strategies. Through this interactive programming, students were able to gain real-world insights into the varied and practical nature of the sector, while developing essential industry skills such as problem solving, teamwork and communication – all from home.

“A GlowMetrics placement is a deep dive into the world of digital measurement. It’s hands-on, fast-paced, and focused on turning complex data into actionable business growth... If you love solving puzzles and seeing the direct impact of your work through data, it’s an incredibly rewarding field.”

Joanne Kearney, Managing Director, GlowMetrics

For their final project, young people applied their knowledge to produce and pitch a data-driven campaign in groups. This was followed by a careers insight session detailing pathways into digital and data-focused roles. 

“Prior to the work experience most students lacked professional digital experience and only had personal experience with using limited digital platforms, so I was blown away by the quality of their questions, their attention to detail during responses, and their excellent pitches upon completing the work experience programme.”

Joanne Kearney, Managing Director, GlowMetrics

Find out more about GlowMetrics here.

Find out more about digital marketing and media careers here.

Young People’s Experience

Young people rated their work experience as 4.6 out of 5 stars. Attendees left feeling empowered by the opportunity and informed about next steps, with 89% confident that they could achieve their career ambitions after taking part in the placement.

“As a student who didn’t take business and would like to do marketing, GlowMetrics helped me see the potential future I could have for this career. Whether I actually go forward on this path is still unclear but GlowMetrics talk on KPIs was my favourite, it was clear informative and a real dig into how the real world explores marketing!”

Student

“The fact that we had a number of sessions spread out throughout the month helped to keep motivated and intrigued towards the company and tasks.” 

Student

Feedback like this reinforces the value of work experience for inspiring students and fuelling ambitions, and of exploring different delivery models to broaden access – and to redefine what’s possible for work experience.

Why A Flexible Approach to Work Experience Matters

Too many young people leave school without work experience. That lack of exposure – to people, ideas, industries and experience – is stalling not just careers, but our national productivity, with employers facing skills shortages and recruitment challenges. Supporting the broadest pool of young people to take their first steps towards a successful career through structured work experience is essential.

“You can study the how-to but… [work experience] builds professional confidence and a desire to question and learn that you don't always get from a textbook. It keeps team’s mentoring skills sharp and brings a burst of new energy into the office. It’s also an effective long-term recruitment strategy… It also allows students to explore career paths that they might not have discovered in career classes… Plus, it’s our way of giving back as most of us were given a similar opportunity somewhere along our career.” 

Joanne Kearney, Managing Director, GlowMetrics

The legacy attached to the phrase ‘work experience’ is shaped by outdated models and personal stories, but work experience has evolved. Flexible formats are making it easier than ever for employers and young people to connect – and to make access to careers and meaningful opportunities fair.

Discover Work Experience for Yourself 

Whether you’re keen to apply for work experience or provide some for young people, head to our Work Experience Finder to get started. 

Our Talks Library is also available as a resource of insights into different sectors.  

* Image source: https://glowmetrics.com/