‘Adopt an intern’ promoted in the Highlands by graduates
Two graduate interns have been recruited in the Highlands to spread the word about a nationwide ‘Adopt an Intern’ programme, which offers unemployed graduates valuable, paid work experience with employers.
Eilidh Finlayson and Gemma Gentles have begun a paid three-month internship in the Highlands to promote the programme and to help attract graduates and interested organisations.
Adopt an Intern was created by the Centre for Scottish Public Policy (CSPP), an independent think tank, in January 2010. The programme gained Scottish Government funding in March of that year. However, these two new internships have been made possible by the Highland Council through an Innovation Challenge Grant of just under £10,000 which the programme successfully bid for. The Council kindly agreed to supply a hot desk for the graduates as well as some useful guidance from its staff in the Planning and Development Service Department.
The graduate interns are busy meeting with key public agencies and businesses across the region to encourage them to employ a graduate for a minimum of three months and up to one year. The Adopt an Intern team are virtual with staff dispersed throughout Scotland. They provide a free recruitment and short-listing service to help make the process as cost-effective as possible for the host organisation. To-date they have placed 160 graduates (12 in the Highlands and Islands).
The graduate interns have already met with Careers Service staff at the University of the Highlands and Islands and all UHI graduates will be advised of the opportunities presented by the progamme.
Eilidh and Gemma are both graduates of Edinburgh University. Eilidh said: “Having been looking for graduate employment in the Highlands, where I was born and brought up, I have experienced how few opportunities there are for graduates and how difficult it is to get a job close to home. To find a job, graduates first need experience in the workplace and the ‘Adopt an Intern’ programme provides this important opportunity as well as promoting a paid internship culture in Scotland.”
Gemma added: “It would be great if public agencies and private businesses take part in the programme and help job-seeking Highland graduates gain vital work experience near their homes, keeping local talent local. The programme has already witnessed the positive benefit this brings to local businesses and organisations alike. Our own internship is much appreciated and will give Eilidh and I important experience in project management.”
Stuart Black, Director of Planning and Development, The Highland Council, said: “The Highland Council recognises the challenge of graduate unemployment at the current time. The Adopt an Intern Programme is an important way of tackling this issue and we are pleased to support the CSPP in their project in the Highlands.”
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