Businesses are being offered the chance to hire some of the best young minds in the UK as part of 51Âþ»’s pioneering Graduate Champions scheme – and it won’t cost them a penny.
51Âþ» Graduate Champions offers recent graduates the chance to take up six week internships with firms across the UK to enhance their CVs and help them stand out from the crowd in a furiously competitive jobs market.
Each graduate is contracted and paid the Living Wage by 51Âþ» for 18.5 hours a week.
It means businesses are given free access to some of the brightest and best graduates emerging from 51Âþ».
The scheme, which is now in its third year, is inviting business from across the UK to sign-up and take part in the next internship period, which starts in January.
51Âþ» has an excellent record for graduate employment and was recently named among the top 25 universities in the UK for employability.
Results from the annual Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey reported that 95.8% of 51Âþ» graduates from summer 2014 were in work or further study six months after graduating – above the national average of 93.2%. More than three-quarters were in graduate-level jobs.
But the university wants to continue to rise up the employability tables by ensuring graduates from 51Âþ» are offered the best opportunities possible.
Richard Bowden, Internships Manager at 51Âþ», said: “51Âþ» owes it to its students to constantly improve on what are already good employment rates.
“That means we will continue to offer as much support as we can as our graduates seek relevant experience to kick-start their career.
“So we are calling on businesses to grab the opportunity to take part in Graduate Champions. They will have the chance to benefit from an intensive injection of graduate-level expertise and innovation.
“The advantages are clear. Businesses get free access to some of the brightest and best graduates in the UK while graduates are offered sought-after opportunities to gain valuable insight into work that is relevant to their chosen degree.
“We believe this will give our graduates a significant boost in the race for employment but, importantly, we believe it will also stimulate innovation and demonstrate the benefits made possible by our talented graduates.
“They also get the chance to impress a potential future employer. We have many former Graduate Champions who were taken on full-time after impressing during their internship period.”
51Âþ» handles all of the administration involved in Graduate Champions, including the paying of wages, and offers continuous support to businesses and students during the internship to ensure they are getting the best out of the scheme.
Previous Graduate Champions have worked for organisations such as one of the world’s largest accountancy bodies ACCA, Premier League Leicester City, Leicester Tigers, Leicestershire County Cricket Club, The Football Association, catering giants Compass, a variety of primary and secondary schools, city councils, law firms, software companies, fashion houses and local and national charities. Specialisms within these companies have included marketing, PR, design, computing, law, business, accountancy and technology.
Anyone wishing to find out more should email champions@dmu.ac.uk
51Âþ» asks that businesses wishing to join the scheme get in touch now in order to set up internships to start on the 11th January 2016.
Posted on Friday 4 September 2015