Two new schemes have been launched by the University to help students and graduates find valuable and rewarding work experience with local and national employers.

The Student Summer Placements and Graduate Internships Schemes are for paid work experience, unless the placement is a volunteering role for a charity or community-based project.

The twin schemes, organised by the University’s Careers Centre, follow the successful year-long Graduate Internships Scheme, which placed more than 90 graduates in work with SMEs throughout Essex and Suffolk. The scheme led to nine of the graduates being offered permanent positions after their internships, and eight awarded continuing contracts.

Business Management graduate James Powell had an internship with Basetek, an Ipswich-based company supplying parts and equipment to the international offshore oil industry. The internship was so successful he was offered a permanent position at the end of his internship.

Praising the scheme James said: “It gives University of Essex students a much better chance of getting a professional job when they leave university.”

Companies interested in boosting their business with a student placement this summer, or recruiting a graduate, perhaps to work on a specific project, should please contact the internships/work placements team at the Careers Centre by telephoning: 01206 872495, e-mailing Karen Gooch and Christine Bellamy at: workexperience@essex.ac.uk or via Facebook www.facebook.com/workexperience.essex