Northumbria Graduate Internship Project

Project Duration: Start to advertise this month. Internships will be completed by September 2018.

Salary: Min salary £17,000 pro rata for 6 months. The Internship project can contribute £3,825.

Small & Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) Definition:

•  An enterprise which employs fewer than 250 employees at the time the support is given (including part time, seasonal and temporary staff) and is involved in economic activity
• And the enterprise has either
• An annual balance sheet total not exceeding 43 million euros, or

• An annual turnover not exceeding 50 million euros

•  And is not more than one quarter (25%) owned by firms that do not comply with the above.

SME Locations: The intern must be based at a location in Northumberland or Tyne & Wear.

Internship: This will be a graduate level position and could be advertised at any time of year.

State Aid: SMEs from the following will potentially not be able to be supported:

• fishery and aquaculture sectors
• coal, steel and shipbuilding sectors
• generalised (school age) education
• the synthetic fibres sector
• retail businesses
• banking and insurance companies
• primary production, processing and marketing of agricultural products

The SME also can’t have received more than 200,000 EUROS of public support in 3 years

SME Requirements: Application form and information requested during the internship are fairly small, however we will require payroll evidence from the SME to show the intern’s monthly pay.

Types of activities particularly interested in (although not essential for every internship):

• internships that involve the graduate in new products or business processes improvements.
• identifying SMEs that work in sectors and geographical location where graduates have previously been less successful in gaining graduate level employment.

Where are vacancies advertised: JobsOnline + other relevant websites (any Graduate can apply).

Benefits: From previous project, Northumbria Graduates Into Business (NGIB), which ran until 2015:

• 75% of the graduates were offered permanent full-time position by the employing SME.
• 71% of the SMEs reported an increase in turnover as a result of employing a graduate, including an increase up to £200,000.
• The above was achieved through 99% of the graduates completing the 6 month internship.

Potential Graduate Opportunities when working for a SME:

• Graduate can showcase skills to potential employer, including addressing knowledge gaps.
• Can get involved in different activities across SME.
• Quickly increase levels of responsibility.

What next?: If a graduate or SME would like to register – northumbria.ac.uk/nebs

For more information:

Victor Ottaway
Graduate Internship Manager
victor.ottaway@northumbria.ac.uk
0191 227 4044

Fiona Mackison
Graduate Internship Co-ordinator
fiona.mackison@northumbria.ac.uk
0191 227 4539