Fourteen new graduate opportunities with The Highland Council

Since it was launched The Highland Council’s Graduate Internship Programme has helped 13 graduates to gain meaningful work experience with many of the young participants going on to find full-time employment with the Council and other local employers.  Following on from this success, the Council is now offering a further fourteen graduate 6 month placements working on projects across six Council Services.

The Council’s Graduate Intern Programme has been developed and is led by the Planning and Development Services and these latest opportunities are available to anyone who has graduated from a degree or HND in the last four years and is either unemployed or underemployed in a role that does not reflect their skills. 

All of the paid internships are time and project focused with specific targets and outcomes.  As well as gaining valuable experience of working in a local authority, each graduate will also benefit from a bespoke development programme to enable them to maximise their training and professional advancement.

New projects and roles include assessing the success of employability services for young people, the development of a tree strategy, reviewing historical housing enforcement notices, investigating the effects of rogue doorstep trading, a highland-wide engineering project on drainage improvements, studying renewable energy installations, and compiling information for the management of school estates.

Councillor Thomas Prag, Chair of The Highland Council’s Planning, Environment and Development Committee said: “I know from personal experience of graduates who have made their mark in a business by getting this kind of toehold so these schemes really work and are part of the Council’s commitment and wider strategy to tackle unemployment and support more people into jobs in the Highlands.

“All fourteen placements are for 6 months which means that trainees will quickly get stuck in to their assigned projects and become valuable members of the teams they are working with. During these months not only will the interns develop valuable skills but services across the Council will be able to enhance their current work by incorporating the results and works of the graduates’ projects.

“I’m sure the vacancies will generate a lot of interest and I look forward to finding out how the successful graduates do during their time with us.”

The new roles are:

Anyone interested in finding out more details on the new Graduate Internships and to apply to join The Highland Council team should visit www.myjobscotland/highland

14 Jan 2014