Wired Sussex launched the Brighton Internship Programme in 2007 with funding from Brighton and Hove City Council. The scheme ran for 2 years and forms the basis for the present programme, which has now expanded geographically to include the whole of Sussex.
Our Internship Programmes deliver real value to both participating companies and interns. We work hard with the companies to ensure that they understand the responsibilities of hosting an intern and also that they are able to derive real benefit from the process. We ensure that the graduate applicants receive an experience from which they will positively benefit and will act as a first step along their career path.
This attention to detail meant that the scheme proved to be very successful, with around half of all interns receiving employment offers from participating companies.
That success allowed us to broaden the scope of our programme and new funding secured in partnership with the University of Sussex from Hefce, SEEDA and BHCC has led to the creation of the much bigger Sussex Internship Programme. To date, the scheme has delivered over 100 internships with more being added all the time.
An internship programme that works
All internship programmes look to deal with the challenge that it is hard to get a job without experience, but you can’t get that experience without a job. The key elements of our programme include:
- We advise each participating company on how to benefit from having new graduate talent at their company.
- We agree a specific project that the intern will be engaged with. This ensures that they don’t end up just making tea and doing photocopying.
- Graduate applicants have to apply for a specific internship with a specific company, submitting a CV and covering letter (and where relevant, a portfolio). They are interviewed and shortlisted. This ensures that the process is as much like applying for a real job as possible.
- We endeavour to supply additional training to the successful interns, relevant to their placement.
Why we did it...
Our main aim is to match graduates with primarily the smaller Sussex companies so that:
- Issues of graduate under-employment and unemployment could be addressed
- Smaller creative businesses could benefit from engaging with a new graduate. Graduates can gain invaluable real world experience in their chosen field
The programme’s success is credited to:
- Companies who trust us to find the talent they need
- Graduates with enthusiasm and potential who apply to be interns
- Funding from Brighton and Hove City Council, SEEDA and HEFCE
- Effective partnership between Wired Sussex and University of Sussex
- 100% commitment of everyone involved
Want to join in?
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