Could your business benefit from a part-funded graduate intern?

5th February 2014

What is an internship? An internship, generally speaking, is a kind of short-term employment popular with young people and recent graduates who wish to gain experience in a professional field.

Why do employers offer internships? Hiring a recent graduate, with cutting edge knowledge and skills, can be a great way to bring innovative ideas and fresh eyes to your organisation. These interns can be used to fill an existing skills gap or staff shortage, to head up a new project or event, or to carry out useful market research or publicity campaigns. Additionally, interns are likely to be incredibly motivated and ready to prove themselves by working hard and taking on any challenges they are offered. Internships can also be used to try out new employees and see how they fit in with your organisation, before offering them a longer-term contract. If the internship goes well, you should have produced a fully trained, loyal, potential employee, who is already well acquainted with your organisation's staff and processes. Furthermore, offering internships can benefit your company in many indirect ways. For instance, your current staff may profit from the new intern's arrival in terms of developing their supervisory skills. Offering these opportunities could also help to raise your company's profile in its local community and demonstrate your social responsibility. In short, interns can prove hugely beneficial to organisations in a variety of ways - so long as those organisations are ready to create the right opportunities for the interns to thrive. Is there any support available for businesses interested in offering internships? You may be interested in the idea of an internship but unsure about how to make the most of it. Or perhaps you have an ideal role or project in mind, but are simply lacking sufficient funds to hire a new employee. Luckily, this is where The University of Sheffield Careers Service, in partnership with Santander, are able to help. We are pleased to announce that, following a very successful pilot scheme last year, we are again offering the opportunity for small to medium sized businesses to take part in our Santander Internship Scheme. Employers who participate will receive: A talented University of Sheffield graduate, keen to gain experience. Free assistance from the University of Sheffield Careers Service in developing a suitable graduate-level project or role for the intern. Free use of the university's vacancy advertising service to promote the opportunity to our graduates. Funds of £1500 per internship, provided by Santander, to help pay the intern's wage. Santander Internships are typically full-time, 3 months in duration and would be paid at £1000 per month (although employers will be able to negotiate a longer internship or higher salary at their discretion). The internships can commence any time from now onwards, but successful graduates must have started their internship no later than the end of June 2014. What have past employers said about the scheme? Martin Edmondson, CEO of Gradcore, an employability social enterprise, employed a University of Sheffield graduate through our pilot scheme: -As a business we have reaped the rewards of recruiting a graduate intern in terms of both productivity and quality. Grace has assimilated a complex range of products and services and demonstrated maturity, professionalism and hard work. It is great to see Santander supporting both graduates and SMEs with a programme like this. To apply for the scheme, find out more information, or see example internship projects, please see our website: http://www.shef.ac.uk/careers/employers/raising/santander For further queries or to discuss your application you can contact Jo Edwards on 0114 222 0904 or at intern@sheffield.ac.uk. As funding for the scheme is limited we would encourage you to apply as soon as possible. We already have a list of graduates who are interested in applying for these internships and are waiting to hear about what opportunities are on offer.