Is your business thinking about recruiting? Are you a small or medium sized enterprise? Have you considered a Graduate Internship?
The University’s Graduate Internships could be the gateway to an excellent employee (and we can contribute to the salary costs for six months).
The University can now support 126 individual SMEs to employ graduate interns to work for each SME for six months.
Through the project we can support Graduate Internships in SMEs based in Northumberland and Tyne & Wear. The Internship will be a graduate level job with a minimum salary of £17,000pa pro rata. We can contribute £3,825 to the six month salary (i.e. 45% of the six month minimum salary - £8,500).
What are the benefits to an SME?
- More than 70% of SME’s who had placements in the previous project reported an increase in turnover as a result of employing a graduate, including one SME reporting an increase in turnover of £200,000.
- 75% of the graduates were offered full time permanent positions by their employing SME at the end of their internship.
What roles can the graduate undertake?
As long as the internship is a graduate level job what you would like the graduate to do in this role is entirely dependent on the needs of your business. Graduates have subject specific knowledge which is often fresh and innovative to support creativity, new ideas and approaches. Additionally, graduates have excellent transferrable knowledge and skills that can be applied to a wide range of sectors and job roles.
Will there be a lot of information or form filling required?
The application form and information requirements during the internship are fairly small. The main information is that the project will require payroll evidence from the SME to show the intern has been paid each month.
Wondering what a Graduate can do for your business?
Here are some quotes from employers about their Interns from the previous project:
“The Intern has proved an excellent choice. He has applied his degree background to new work streams. His ability to pick up new skills and apply the training, together with his high educational standard, has really seen us be able to pass projects on to the Intern that are quite complex, and advantageous for us to grow and develop as a company. The department where he is deployed has grown itself, contributing 19% of the business revenue, from approximately 5% when the internship programme began. We have been able therefore to grow and re-hire, and another employee will start with us soon. This will free the Intern from some of the more junior roles, which will pass to the new hire, and his career will accelerate too.”
“….. is doing really well, in fact I've heard she's so good that staff are forgetting that she's a recent graduate, long may it continue.”
“Things are going very well, he is making a great contribution and learning a lot as well!”
“She is doing really great and is the engine of business. We fully expect this to go from strength to strength.”
Wondering how the SMEs have benefitted since the SMEs employed their Graduate after the Internship? David Parks from The Skill Mill:
“Charlotte has had an enormous impact throughout her internship, and indeed beyond it. Trade has increased with new projects where she took the lead. Charlotte has also developed a range of systems which ensure we can tender for large framework contracts.”
What Next?
Victor Ottaway, Graduate Internship Manager, will be pleased to discuss how the project can support you (victor.ottaway@northumbria.ac.uk or (+44) 191 227 4044). If you’d like to register your SME with the project please visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/nebs.
