The programme ran in June 09 and was open to Final Year students from Knowledge East Universities. It was marketed as a training & development and internship opportunity to encourage the widest student participation possible from across the diverse institutions of KnowledgeEast (as opposed to selling on the basis of one internship opportunity with a specific skill set). The pilot session received 72 applications with places for 40 students, demonstrating the demand for this kind of support.
We anticipated that running this as a KnowledgeEast partnership project would add value to our efforts to meet both students and employer expectations. As we delivered the programme this was proven to be the right approach as students from many different disciplines applied, greatly adding to the mix, improving the standard and interaction amongst the students on both the training and evaluation days of the programme and ensuring the employer was getting the very best candidates from across the partnership.
The programme emphasised providing direct feedback to candidates on their presentation skills, interview technique and ability to carry out work-based scenarios effectively. Then followed a selection day where the students delivered a pre-prepared presentation, conducted formally observed interviews to which each candidate received instant feedback to use in their search for graduate employment.
The feedback sheets from participants were very positive – they greatly enjoyed the experience and felt they could practically apply what they learnt as they applied for full time work.
‘The training programme, especially the direct and honest feedback was so beneficial. My time was well spent and has helped prepare me for employment. I recently got a job as an integration administrator and believe that the experience gained via the KnowledgeEast intern programme has helped equip me with fundamental employment skills - thanks once again’. Francis Smith – Candidate
Ebuba Udoh, the successful intern, says of her experience ‘’Mark (KnowledgeEast) has been so supportive… above and beyond my expectations…he has also recently liaised with an academic at the University to mentor me for the duration of my time here’’
The employer, Thames Gateway London Partnership who has employed our winning intern has been very pleased at the high standard of candidates that were put forward for their vacancy of Information Analyst and found the final choice a difficult one.
In terms of future impact we will now use lessons learned from the pilot to run a new programme as part of the KnowledgeEast network in 09-10. We will continue maximizing the added-value of mixing students from many different institutions and disciplines and also broaden the number of employers and internships on offer. We will also include mentoring for the employers in how to take on an intern successfully and deliver earlier marketing campaigns to maximize participation and buy-in across all of KnowledgeEast.
In future this activity will not only form part of the KnowledgeEast portfolio serving students and local employers but will also influence KEEN development and future collaborative initiatives that partners engage in to support our students into graduate level employment.
(Mark Faulkner, Projects and Placements Co-ordinator, Employability Team, UEL)
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