After all the hard work it takes to graduate, it may still be tough to find the dream role you are hoping for. Employers will often still want to see what kind of experience you have, and this can lead to work experience and graduate internship schemes providing an opportunity for people to get a taste of the industry and build a more impressive CV. It can be a crucial step on any career ladder.
What is a Work Placement?
A work placement is time spent within a company, often during a year of a degree course, in which people can gain experience of the industry and start to build their skills, as well as get more of a taste of the industry and see if a role is for them.
A work placement year is a part of many different degree courses, especially those where it is seen as crucial to shadow other staff or to see the ins and outs of an industry before being accredited. In some degrees, a work placement may be assigned to you, in other degrees the onus may be on you to find the placement.
Work placements can be incredibly varied depending on the degree, and the industry in which you plan to work. Lots of big companies provide work placements, and some are incredibly sought after and competitive to be accepted onto.
Benefits of Doing Work Placements
Why do a work placement or look for a graduate internship after graduating? What are the benefits of these programmes for people who are already spending years building their skills. It can seem like another year added to an already arduous education.
Workplace Experience
The clue is in the name! Work placements provide individuals with the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge gained from university studies in a real-world work environment. This hands-on experience helps bridge the gap between classroom learning and practical application, allowing individuals to develop relevant skills.
Take the initiative to seek feedback from supervisors during your work placement; this proactive approach not only demonstrates your dedication to personal growth and improvement but it could also increase the likelihood of securing future employment opportunities.
Further Skill Development
Work placements offer a further platform for individuals to develop and refine a wide range of skills, including technical skills specific to their field of study. In some industries, there is no substitute for being on the job, carrying out the work, rather than in a lecture hall learning about it.
On top of this, people will learn transferable skills such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and time management. These skills are highly valued by employers and can enhance an individual's employability. In some medical fields, experience working under an experienced professional may be essential.
Exploring the Industry
It isn’t just about what work placements can do for you. You need to get a taste of the industry, and learn more about the sorts of roles you might be applying for in the future.
Work placements provide students with valuable insights into their chosen industry, including industry trends, practices, and culture. By immersing themselves in a professional work environment, individuals gain a deeper understanding of the industry landscape and can make more informed decisions about their career paths.
Networking
Some people love it, others hate it. Networking may be part of your career whichever camp you fall into. Work placements offer opportunities to build professional networks and establish connections with industry professionals.
Networking can lead to valuable mentorship, career guidance, and future employment opportunities, as individuals expand their professional contacts and build relationships within their field. It may even make it more likely you’ll get a permanent job within the company in the future.
Can you do an Internship After Graduation?
Graduate internships are a popular way to get a foot in the door. They are paid, and can be seen as fixed-term contracts in which people get to experience a company and its culture, and the company pays the individual, whilst also seeing if they may be a good candidate for a full-time job in the future.
A graduate internship is a structured programme designed to provide recent university graduates with practical work experience in their chosen field or industry. Unlike traditional internships, which may be open to students at any stage of their academic journey, and start as young as 16, graduate internships are specifically targeted towards individuals who have completed their degrees and are transitioning into the workforce.
Graduate internships typically last for a fixed duration, ranging from a few months to two years, although the exact duration may vary depending on the organisation and the nature of the internship. These internships are offered by a wide range of employers, including private companies, non-profit organisations, government agencies, and research institutions.
Graduate Schemes and Internship Opportunities
Graduate internships are just one type of graduate employment. Many companies offer “graduate schemes” which may be ways to fast-track people who have relevant degrees to management positions, for instance.
These schemes often aim to fast-track individuals into various roles within the organization, offering rotations across different departments, mentorship programs, and formal training sessions to accelerate career progression.
Graduate schemes are prevalent across various industries in the UK, including finance, consulting, engineering, technology, retail, healthcare, and more. Major companies and organisations, ranging from financial institutions like banks and insurance firms to large corporations in sectors such as manufacturing and energy, often offer graduate schemes as a means to attract and develop talented individuals for future leadership positions.
As a result, graduate schemes tend to be highly competitive, as they seek high-quality candidates capable of thriving in challenging work environments. These schemes often involve multiple levels of recruitment, including rigorous application processes, assessment centres, and interviews, to identify the best candidates for grad scheme positions.
Utilise the resources and networking opportunities offered by your university's career services department to uncover hidden internship opportunities.
As well as job boards, it may be worth looking to your university for some support on this, as there is a chance that they already have relationships with people in the industry. Finding graduate internships is something that may not be easy, and people have to be really proactive with this. Find companies in your industry and area, and see if they are offering these kind of internships.
As you can see from the video above, there are numerous routes into employment for graduate, and programmes specifically built for people coming out of university.
In lots of cases, graduate internships may lead to full-time employment opportunities with the organisation. Many employers use internships as a recruitment strategy to identify talented individuals who demonstrate potential and fit within the company, and if there is a role for them in the future.
Graduate Summer Internships
A graduate summer internship is a temporary work placement programme specifically designed for graduate students during the summer months. It makes sense, as the internships can occur between academic years, providing students with the opportunity to gain work experience and practical skills in their chosen field or industry, and sometimes some money to help through the next year of university.
There are quite a few summer internships out there, and though people who have already completed two years of their degree (or their whole degree) may be preferred, there are some open to any students to try and get a foot in the door and some valuable work experience.
In the modern, flexible world of work, internships come in all sorts of different forms, including virtual internships, and remote internships, so people aren’t necessarily required to commute or relocate to do these programmes.
There is also something called “spring week” where people may spend a week during the spring with a company.
Do You Get Paid for Work Placements?
Payment for internships and placements is something that is often a hotly debated topic, and there are protections in place to ensure that people can’t be easily taken advantage of.
If a placement year is a mandatory part of your higher education course then it is usually seen as this, your education, and therefore not something you are paid for. The work placement year is simply part of your degree. You may get reimbursed for travel and bursaries are also possible.
Graduate internships and work placements that you find yourself, though, are often paid. There are some rules about working on internships, and if you are doing more than just shadowing, and are not a volunteer, you need to be paid.
It is also possible that there are some unpaid placements that are short-term, a bit like the work experience people tend to do when they are at school.
Students required to do an internship for less than one year as part of a UK-based further or higher education course are not entitled to the National Minimum Wage.
Whenever you undertake an internship of any form, it is crucial that you know your rights, as set out by the government. While there are plenty of benefits to internships besides money, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be paid.
Graduate Internships – A Taste of Industry
Trying to find a management role or a job that requires experience can be very tough, and frustrating, if you have recently graduated.
Fortunately, graduate internships serve as one of the many schemes that can help people to get the experience they need, usually while getting paid. Sometimes, you’ll know going into the degree course that there is a sandwich year or a graduate ‘year in industry’ placement.
If you need help preparing for graduate interviews, why not reach out to one of the many interview tutors and prepare for the sort of questions you may be faced with. Find a tutor today here on Superprof.
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