Help is at hand for job-hunt graduates
SMALL firms are being urged to take advantage of a new £100,000 scheme that will allow them to recruit graduate interns at a fraction of the usual cost.
Manchester Metropolitan University's GradMatch will create 100 internships for students who graduated this year but have been unable to find work.
They will be placed with small to medium-sized firms across Stoke-on-Trent, South Cheshire and the North West for a minimum of eight weeks.
Businesses will be awarded £1,000 towards the cost of employing a graduate intern, who will earn a minimum of £250 per week for full-time employees, or pro-rata for part-time employees.
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Graduates who are no longer studying but have managed to find part-time work will also be eligible for the scheme, as will EU, international and MA graduates.
Bosses at MMU, which has a campus at Crewe, hope the scheme will lead to longer-term or permanent employment for the participating graduates.
Rita Lewin, head of student employability and success and deputy director of student services, said they werereally excited about GradMatchMMU.
"MMU takes the employability of our graduates very seriously and giving them support in getting high quality experience of the graduate labour market via a paid internship is one way of doing this," she said.
Ashley Howells, who runs Ashley Recruitment Consultants in Hartshill, said he would urge other small firms to consider taking on graduate interns.
He has just signed up Melissa Tideswell full-time after she spent time with the company as part of her MBA (Master of Business Administration) at Keele University.
She has already been responsible for setting up a new division specialising in supply teachers.
Mr Howells said: "Melissa had actually been on our books as a temp for six years on and off while she completed her studies.
"I was looking at setting up the supply teacher division but I was struggling to find a good candidate.
"Melissa had to spend time with a business as part of her MBA and she shone out like a beacon for me.
"I knew from having her on our books that she was punctual and hard-working and she also had the academic background. She's just about to get the results for her MBA and she's now going to be working for us permanently.
"She's done all the research and marketing for our new division as well as dealing with the legal issues and setting up a website."
He added: "If you can find the right candidate I would definitely recommend taking on a graduate intern.
"Certainly the MBA course at Keele seems to provide people of very high calibre."
Melissa, aged 23, of Blurton, said: "It's been a brilliant experience. My undergraduate degree was in business management and entrepreneurship, then I did international business management for my MBA.
"The internship allowed me to put into practice everything I've learned. You had a choice of doing a dissertation or the internship but I wanted to do something practical. Ashley has been there to mentor me but I've been quite free to put my own stamp on things."
To take part in GradMatch employers must be registered with Companies House. Firms can offer more than one internship place, as long as they are for separate roles.
For more, contact Freya Marshall on 0161 2476512 or F.Marshall@mmu.ac.uk.
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