It is hardly surprising news but unemployment for young people in Britain is very high and looks set to continue being high for some time to come.  This unfortunately is the case for all sectors – for graduates as well as for others with different skills. If you find yourself in this position, what can you do to increase your chances of finding a job? An article published in the Independent ‘Internships make a difference’ suggests very strongly that if you want a job then apart from qualifications, you need experience – and if the only way you can get that is to do an unpaid internship then it’s something you should really try to do. 

Mat Bennett recently completed an internship with us at UIC – “I left university a couple of years ago and although I had been working I hadn’t found the thing I really wanted to do. I took an internship at UIC for 3 months, learned a lot of practical skills, also learned about this industry and understood where vacancies might be. Towards the end of my internship I applied for a job in the same industry and got it. I’m delighted and have no doubt that this internship was key to me getting the job I now have” .

Internships are on offer in all sorts of companies and the government is actively supporting the creation of more opportunities – creating 20,000 internships. Internships have long been the norm in other countries – in Europe, Asia and the Americas; UIC has been offering work placements and internships to international students for many years now and the demand continues to increase. International students come to the UK not just to improve their English but increasingly want to gain some practical experience before returning home – their job opportunities increased twofold – by having better English and also by having some practical experience.  UIC is a member of Work Experience UK and offers a course called Workskills which includes a work placement – and this can be paid or unpaid. It is possible for international students to do this course with the normal General Student Visas – if it is organised properly. Please contact UIC if you would like any more information.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 10:52 am and is filed under Business, Learning English, UIC London, work experience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.