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John Denham, the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, has today revealed government plans to help students get work experience through a new internship scheme. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph in upbeat mode, he said that following the internships the graduates would be, “more employable, and some of them will get jobs. Employers won't want to let good people go.”
Universities have reported that some companies have been pulling out of the Milk Round this year and, in some cases, are concentrating their recruitment at only on one or two ‘elite’ campuses. There will be somewhere between 300 and 400 thousand students graduating from university this year and the government realises that it needs to give them as much support as possible to get the work experience they need in order to find the best jobs.
Although no decisions have yet been finalised, it is expected that the internships will be sponsored by the government. Four large companies, including Microsoft and Barclays, have already signed up to the scheme and others from charities, voluntary groups and the public sector have also been asked to get involved.
The initiative, with the working title of the National Internship Scheme, will see graduates being paid to gain work experience for a period of three months. The pay is not expected to be exceptional – it will be marginally above the income-level that students could expect to receive from loans and grants – but the benefits of work experience with a well-known company could be invaluable.
It is hoped that some of the internships will result in a permanent job at the end of the placement and Denham understands that help is needed in recessionary times. He said that, "These are the children of the baby-boomers. They will be a very big group. What do we do with them? We can't just leave people to fend for themselves."
You will find all the help you need on the Employment4students website if you are looking for the work experience you need to put you ahead of the competition.
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