Becoming a Host EmployerTeens Work Know-How Program
Build your inclusive workplace while gaining real insight from the future workforce — guided by lived experience, backed by community, delivered with purpose.
Why be a Host Employer?
Support social change through action, not just policy.
Re-ignite student interest in your field — including subjects like STEM — and influence the career pathway of autistic teens.
Deliver on your Diversity & Inclusion strategy in a real, measurable way.
New hosts receive a complimentary "Understanding Neurodiversity in the Workplace" training session.
Build internal awareness and confidence engaging with neurodivergent staff.
A genuine, rewarding experience for staff and buddies — many find it a meaningful, personal highlight of their year.
The Opportunity
Autistic students continue to face disproportionately high unemployment and underemployment rates across Australia. One of the most powerful predictors of future employment success is early, supported exposure to real workplace environments during high school. Yet too often, students miss out — not due to capability, but due to uncertainty, risk aversion, or limited support structures between schools and employers. The Teens Work Know-How Program exists to change that.
Each Cohort Completes
- Intake and onboarding
- Individual coaching sessions
- Resume development workshops
- CliftonStrengths assessment
- Interview skills training
- Teamwork and workplace etiquette workshops
- Mental resilience and growth mindset sessions
Students Arrive Having Already Developed
- A completed, reviewed resume
- A CliftonStrengths Top 5 profile
- Communication strategies
- Awareness of workplace expectations
- Coaching support from their coach at the beginning, middle, and after placement
Practice interviews and the work experience placement itself happen with you, the host employer — students arrive prepared for these, rather than having already completed them.
Program Rhythm
Our program runs in two structured annual cycles, giving employers consistency to plan ahead and participate once or twice per year.
Round 1 — Term 1 Intake
Intake and onboarding begins in January, with workshops and coaching running through February and March ahead of the placement week.
2027 Work Experience Week: 5–11 April
Round 2 — Term 3 Intake
Intake and onboarding begins in July, with workshops and coaching running through August and September ahead of the placement week.
2027 Work Experience Week: 27 September – 1 October
Exact dates are confirmed with host employers ahead of each cycle.
What It Means to Be a Host Employer
Host employers commit to:
Typically a four-day placement during school holidays, running Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (Wednesday off), 10:00am–4:00pm.
Offering work that's meaningful and matched to the student's level.
Providing a point of contact for the student during placement.
Participating in one or both rounds, as suits your organisation.
We work with you beforehand to scope task design, team integration, supervision clarity, and risk management alignment.
What Hosting Can Look Like
There's no single way to host — placements are shaped around what works for your organisation. Two common approaches:
Group / Incursion Style
One supervisor leads a small group of students through a shared, hands-on experience — similar in feel to an incursion. This suits organisations who want a structured, lower-resource way to host several students at once.
Individual Buddy / Shadow Style
A staff member — sometimes a volunteer, sometimes signed off by a department lead — is buddied up with one student in their area of interest, whether that's IT, customer support, or another role entirely. If more than one student is hosted, the group might reconvene at lunchtime to compare notes before heading back to their own departments for the afternoon.
Whichever style suits you, we'll work through the details together before placement week.
What We Provide
You are not expected to have prior experience supporting autistic students — we equip you. We manage:
Getting Ready to Host
Before your first placement, we ask host organisations to set aside time for a few essential steps.
1. Discovery Call
Book a short call with our team to learn more about the program and ask any questions you have before committing.
2. Working with Children Checks
Buddies and supervisors who will work directly with students need a valid WWCC — this isn't required of your whole team, just those in direct contact.
3. Understanding Autism at Work Training
A complimentary session for supervisors, buddies, and anyone else interested — a short presentation plus direct Q&A with Jacob, our Lived Experience Manager.
4. Work Experience Payment Guidelines
Hosts agree to follow the relevant government guidelines for unpaid work experience placements.
Staying Connected Throughout
Beyond the steps above, we ask hosts to make time for a small number of check-ins — we keep these brief and purposeful.
Post-Intake Check-In
Once students are allocated to your organisation, a check-in to understand any needs — yours or the student's — ahead of placement.
Mock Interview
You'll meet the student for the first time at their practice interview, ahead of placement week.
Post-Placement Check-In
A wrap-up conversation after placement to capture feedback and reflect on how the week went.
A Simple Feedback Form
We ask hosts to complete a short form on the student's personal development — it helps shape their next steps.
Help With a Social Story
If you don't already have one, we may ask for your support sharing simple details — who to meet, where to enter, parking, security, and so on — to create a social story for the student.
How We Support You On the Day
We're with you every step.
Always Someone There to Welcome
At least one AV team member, placement student, or volunteer is always on-site to help welcome and support staff and students through arrival.
Leadership at Your Presentation
If you choose to hold an end-of-week presentation, we try to have our Programs Manager, Coordinator, and General Manager attend.
A Visit on the Last Day
Where we can, we visit students on their final day at your workplace to check in and celebrate how the week went.
On Call, All Day
Throughout placement weeks, our team is on call all day — so help is always a phone call away if you need it.
Why Employers Participate
What hosts tell us:
- ✓Social recognition for your organisation — and for the staff who step up as buddies and hosts
- ✓A genuine, ground-level understanding of the diversity in tomorrow's workforce
- ✓A structured, fully supported way to trial work experience — low-risk, and scaffolded by our team throughout
- ✓Counts toward your organisation's social procurement and community impact commitments
But for a lot of hosts, it's less about pipeline metrics and more personal. Many of the staff and "buddies" who take part aren't neurodivergent themselves — they want to show a student they're capable of far more than expected, often because they remember underestimating themselves at that age. Others have a family member on the spectrum, and hosting gives them a real, grounded sense of what that young person's journey might look like. Either way, hosts consistently tell us it's a genuine highlight of their year — good for the student, and good for them too.
This is not a charity initiative.
It's mentorship, confidence-building, and genuine workplace connection — with real, practical workforce benefits alongside it.
This is a government-funded program.
We don't ask host employers for anything upfront — no fees, no donations. We want this program to prove its value to you first, through your own experience hosting. If your organisation later chooses to help sustain it once government funding ends, that's always welcome — but it's never the ask. What we ask for is your time and engagement.
Placement Quality & Sustainability
We do not "drop students in." Every placement is collaboratively scoped to ensure tasks are meaningful, expectations are clear, students can contribute, and the experience is repeatable for future cohorts. Our goal is sustainable employer partnerships that run year after year — not one-off goodwill gestures.
Participation Options
You may choose to:
We recommend registering your expression of interest early to allow adequate planning.
Join Those Who Get It
Past and present participants have completed supported work experience with a growing list of inclusive employers, including:
Interested in Hosting?
Complete our Host Employer Expression of Interest Form to begin the conversation, email Zahra with any questions, or book a short call directly in her calendar.
Resources & Downloads
Everything you need to share internally before getting started.
Host Employer Flyer
A printable overview of becoming a host employer, including the program rhythm, your commitment, and what we provide.
Short Flyer Extended FlyerTeens Work Know-How Program
Visit the main TWKHP page for participant details, 2027 key dates, and the program flyer.
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