Leeds City College

‘An absolute pleasure’.

That is how Yorkshire-based legal practice XYZ Law has described hosting its very first T Level student, after linking up with Leeds City College.

Yaaseen Patel spent nine weeks with the company as part of his Digital Support Services T Level, and excelled in the IT and administration role.

Building skills through hands-on experience

This was exactly the kind of practical experience that Yaaseen was hoping for when he chose to go down the T Level path – which has industry placements at its heart.

He said: “I have always been interested in IT and had digital skills, so I knew I wanted to have a career in the field.

“I decided to follow the T Level route when I was in sixth form and was bored with just desk-based classroom work all the time. T levels offered hands-on learning experience, which appealed to me.

“My role in XYZ Law was to research and compare remote working surveillance and chatbots for the company, then present it to the team. I also learned a lot about how their admin and IT side works.

“I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about how a law firm operates.”

What it’s like to host a T Level industry placement as an employer

For the business, meanwhile – which operates throughout the UK and has its head office in Dewsbury – the placement represented a very positive introduction to the world of T Level placements.

HR manager Mollie Wright said:”It was an absolute pleasure to have Yaaseen join our team.

“He was amazing at communicating throughout and completed every task to a high standard, while also showing an interest in different aspects of the firm. As well as doing great at his work, Yaaseen also settled really well into the team.

“This placement was an opportunity for us to support a young person in achieving their qualification, while having an extra person to assist the business. It was our first T Level placement and we are looking forward to taking on someone else in the future.”

Yaaseen, who has now completed his T Level, added: “I would recommend the course to students who are interested in doing an apprenticeship or full time employment after college.

“The work placement is very beneficial for your CV and gives you a higher chance of becoming employable.”

He is now preparing to study IT at university.