Internships and work placements
What is an internship?
An internship or work placement can give you the opportunity to work at a company with the intention of learning new skills and gaining experience in a particular industry.
More and more companies are offering these types of positions to school leavers, as well as to graduates.
There are three different types of internships:
- Work Shadowing - Work Shadow interns follow one or more members of a team throughout their day-to-day routine, allowing them to learn from top industry professionals.
- Vacation Schemes - These are offered by some of the larger Management, Financial, and Accountancy firms. They act as training programmes and as a way for firms to assess candidates for future roles within the company. These schemes also give candidates the opportunity to see if the company is right for them.
- Work Placements - Work Placements are often part of a degree programme. They tend to be available in fields like Finance, Consultancy, Marketing, and Management. Work placements are designed to give students a taste for working life in their chosen profession, and help add to a more well-rounded education whilst at university.
The length of internships can vary, usually work placements are run over a fixed length of time, typically a number of weeks or months. Smaller companies such as retail businesses or media agencies typically offer shorter internships. A work-shadow opportunity may only last one to two weeks owing to the type of role that is being shadowed.
Examples of work shadowing schemes for Year-12 students
PwC have exciting opportunities for students to gain work experience on one of their business insight weeks
Santander have 3 different opportunities for 15-19 year old students, 1 day, 1 week and 4 week placements.
Springpod offers lots of work experience opportunities with top companies
Search for the latest internships & work-experience opportunities on Guardian Jobs
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