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THIS YEAR’S GRADIRELAND survey into graduate salaries and recruitment trends shows that internships and work experience programmes are firmly established as an indelible feature of the graduate recruitment landscape in Ireland.
For employers, internships represent a strategic channel with which they can engage with students while they are still studying, and cultivate future employees in the knowledge that they have prior experience in their company, and are therefore ready to hit the ground running when they graduate. For students, they represent an opportunity to get invaluable practical experience of a potential employer, and offer a solution to the common graduate conundrum: “I can’t get a job without experience, but how can I get experience without a job?”
Our data shows that 80% of employers surveyed in this year’s research operate internship programmes. Over 40% said that they planned to increase the number of placement opportunities, and none of the companies which we talked to, and who operate programmes, had any plans to reduce the number of placements on offer.
Another interesting fact is that 66% of employers are now targeting students still studying, rather than graduates, for their programmes. This figure is up 20% on last year’s data. This ties in with the trend across the graduate recruitment landscape of employers engaging with students far earlier in their third-level studies, and means students should also start thinking about their possible career paths well ahead of final year.
JobBridge
It’s fair to say that the increasing importance of internships for graduates, students and employers has not been without controversy over recent years. The state-run internship programme, JobBridge, which has been deemed generally a success by employers in terms of sourcing good-quality permanent employees, unfairly shouldered the brunt of the blame, with the social-welfare top-up payment of €50 viewed as derisory by many.
It contributed to a false impression in the minds of students, jobseekers and parents, that the internship landscape was dominated by avaricious employers eager to pay very little or nothing to their interns. In May of this year, it was announced that the JobBridge scheme is to be discontinued, although there is no visibility on what, if anything will replace it, with no announcement expected before September at the earliest.
Make no mistake, there are unscrupulous, exploitative employers out there, looking for free labour. But the fact is that of the graduate employers that we talked to, 92% provided paid internship programmes. The amount that they are willing to pay their interns is also on the rise, with the average pay, according to 38% of employers surveyed, of between €1,600-€1,799 per month, Only 18% of employers pay less than €1,400 per month and only 11% pay less than €1,000 per month. In fact that same percentage pay in excess of €2,000 per month, so there are some very well paid internship programmes out there, most commonly lasting longer than six months, according to 41% of employers surveyed.
The debate over whether internships are worth undertaking can probably best be answered with the statistic from our research which reveals that 68% of employers are hiring more than half of their graduate recruits from those who had previously completed an internship with their organisation. Whichever way you look at it, they are pretty good odds.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR INTERNSHIP
You’ll be treated like an employee, so treat it as a job
Companies are paying an increasing amount to those on their internship programmes and treating their interns like employees, so you should treat it as a real job, even though you’re learning. Be punctual, organised and maintain a positive, friendly attitude.
Stay focused
Treat an internship as an opportunity, at the end of which you could land a job. So keep your goal in sight, ask plenty of questions and network as much as you can.
Be interested
By getting on an internship programme, you’ll have needed to know something about the company, but when you’re hired as an intern you’ll be expected to learn a lot more, and quickly. Find out about the culture and objectives of the business and try to develop a broad knowledge of the industry.
Be friendly
This doesn’t mean talking to everyone you meet all the time, it means listening, smiling and engaging with your potential employers in the right way. Sure, they’ll be looking to see if you have the right skills for the job, but they’ll also be looking to see if you are the sort of person they want to work with on a Monday morning!
Follow up
No matter how well your internship went, or you think it went, as soon as you’ve left, there could be another batch of interns coming in the door, as eager to impress as you were. Follow up with your manager, mentor or colleagues with a short, friendly email, thanking them for the opportunity and say that you’re looking forward to keeping in touch.
Ruairi Kavanagh is editor at gradireland.com
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I am so looking foward to this. I will vote but not for labour fg ff. but I will tell them what I think of them when they come knocking. Bring it on
i hear you loud and clear about not voting for party members, but at local level the best councillor in our area is a member of one of the parties, she is good at following up on stuff that we ask of her, she will get my vote if she runs again, the independent Guy hasn’t got the same motivation, local politics can sometimes be hard, great person to help locally but their party politics are a joke as they form the seats in the government houses. WHY ISN’T THERE AN EASIER OPTION … :)
There is an easy option tell her if she wants your vote she will need to run as an independent. Do not support any of the parties who are visiting misery on Irish citizens.
After Brian Cowan act of treason I told our local ff councilor Padraig McNally I’d vote for him if he ran as an independent and not on the FF ticket. Unfortunately not enough of my fellow county men and women felt the same and he was re-elected
Here here Peter !!
Can we have a ballot paper without ff, fg, or labour on it please
just dont x any of them that is what i will do.
Spoiling the vote is the only option. We should run a campaign on this.
You have convinced me john now lets try convincing the rest of the electorate
Zzzzzzzz.
There you go, that’s the only thing that will bring change! I’m sick of hearing this lame excuse used by these clowns ” sure ’twas ye that voted us in” . Stop voting, “the best of a bad lot” I hear people saying, don’t vote any of them in , fire them all and start again. Let the people decide what saleries , pensions , these people get. It’s a dirty rotten to core club that needs to be beaten down and rebuilt.
Waste of time voting, the government always wins.
May be a waste but at least you the right t exercise your vote even if the result doesn’t go the want you would have wished….
They lie during elections to get votes. Sure FG+Labour just continued FF policies.
And what do we get for exercising our constitutional right? A government for the people, by the people? No.. We get gangsters shisters and greasy handed sleeveens. I have voted every single election since I was 18 but until there is someone who is going to stand for the people rather their own vested interests I’ll not be voting for a while. I want to but I’m not going to play any part in putting liars and two faced gobsh*es back at the trough.
I assume you mean the permenent government,the career civil servants.
Fair enough if you think voting is a waist of time. But please don’t just not bother to turn up.
Spoil your vote to show your anger
Otherwise they just spin the low turn out !
Or failing that, run and vote for yourself.
They could do with sorting out the register. You can guarantee that most of the 300000+ that have emigrated are still on it. Plus I know a lot of women who get 2 voting cards. 1 in their maiden name and 1 in their married name. So when they say only 33% or whatever used their vote its prob way higher just the register hasn’t been updated. Surely they can cross reference names with pps numbers and remove duplicates and any pps number thats not active as in on social welfare payment or working should be removed. I worked with a chap before who got 3 voting cards for the presidential election. One went to his mothers house in donegal, 1 went to his friends apartment in athlone where he used to live and 1 went to his current home in dublin. It really should be sorted out
Good point, I get two polling cards sent to the same address for different polling stations!
Ive voted at every election since I turn 18 19 years ago. Might not agree who is on the card but I still went and voted, we vote the people into office and they make up the government, if more people got off their arse and tried to help their local community they would know who the best person to vote for and which ones are always there at public events shaking hands and the like but in reality are just wasting shoe leather … ensure you can vote and vote, even if you write spoil across it.get informed and vote the best person into the job, forget about political parties and gender.
I agree. You should vote for the best of a bad lot, if you do not like any of them that much.
Some countries have seen their democracy fail when the moderate majority become apathetic. What will always remain are the radicals who are passionate about their communist, facist, religious, etc candidates.
Moderates not voting (or spoiling their vote) is a road towards dictatorship, tyranny or a permanent loss of your vote or your rights.
You should vote for the best of a bad lot? What a stupid thing to say. Why would you want to do that? That’s exactly what’s wrong with this dumb system. If in your opinion they are all bad , why vote . ?
Because not to vote the “best of the bad lot” gives a good chance that the worst of the bad lot will get in. At least this way you have a bit of a voice, if there is only bad people to vote from then you must do a bit of research and find the best person who will do the best job possible.
Not voting because you think they are all crap isn’t a valid reason that is just pure lazy on the candidate and you the voter, If you can’t find someone who is worthy of your vote then you should still turn up and write spoil across it, It will give future generations something to think about, Image if this year a certain area wasn’t able to elect a person because the people there felt there wasn’t anyone good enough to do the job and spoilt their votes, This is how things change from the public side… the political side have it all tied up as it is but there are rules and outcomes to voting.
Ken, using the same mentally as what you said why do anything worthwhile in hundred years or so the Garden you planted is overgrown, the new car you bought is just rust… we can all make a change, every vote will count. and the count will start with your one vote. USE IT WISELY… ;)
John the garden is already overgrown, the car is already rusted and I’m still here!
You can cut the grass and repair the car but why do that to something that’s rotten to the core.
“Voting for the lesser of two evils always results in a victory for evil”
People care more about X-factor votes these days. Maybe we should do a “Political Factor” style program, people might be bothered then, plus we get the added bonus of watching Enda Kenny sing for his supper for once.
I will never vote for party politics again in this country. We need a new system.
You don’t like the party that gets in, so change the system eh? How very communist.
@Kevin, only to a dinosaur.
I also think that if you fail to use your vote in 2 consecutive elections/referendums without a genuine reason then you should be removed from the register. If you want a vote the next time then u have to sign back up to it. I bet there would be a lot of moaning about that. But if you continuously refuse to use your vote then you shouldn’t be on the register.
And not on register means loss of all credits from the state.
The red thumbs are prob from those who don’t bother to vote and then get insulted if its suggested it should be taken away from them
Are they planning to introduce a tax on voting?
Yes Kerry, and as always us Irish will pay it as we walk in the door to vote.
People who do not vote should never ever complain or comment on politics .
There’s fee/fines in some country’s for not voting.? Good idea or bad ? What ye think ?
Voting should be mandatory. Although how that would be handled in Ireland is a mystery. Administratively speaking the nation appears to be a shambles.
Not bothering to vote just enables pathetic candidates to get in. IIRC, if only one person votes for candidate A and no-one votes for candidates B, C and D then candidate A wins. Extreme circumstance admittedly but are all you ‘non-voters’ happy with that ?
Couldn’t care less.moving to Vegas in March for all i care this place can burn to the ground
I wouldnt miss it for the world. Can’t wait to put a boot into the bol**x of FF. FG and especially LAB. It’s been a long long time coming.
I don’t vote . Why you might ask ?
this will explain it better than I would
Voting is pointless, voting is what has us in this mess and what a bad job you’ve done voters, you should be ashamed of yourselves
Max sounds like you have never voted. If so shut the fcuk up. You don’t have the right to complain when you refuse to vote. And telling voters they should be ashamed is just disgusting. Don’t you know men and women died so wasters like you have the freedom and right to vote and you repay them by not bothering your useless arse to vote. Your the one who should be ashamed. Ireland can do without morons like you. Pity you wouldn’t emigrate.
No point. Same shit, different clown
DDI all the way.
have your say