Category Archives: Internship

Internship

8 Ways to get the best internship

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Competition for internships is as fierce as ever. Follow these top tips from Naturejobs and other industry experts to boost your chances.

1. Start early

Most people will be looking for an internship that take place over the summer, and the deadlines for these usually close in January or February – see our ever expanding list of placements. If you leave it to the last minute, you will seriously narrow your options, leaving speculative applications or placements which come up at short notice.  Naturejobs

2. Take a proactive approach to find a placement.

Whilst social media provides a great platform to communicate with a range of people, even potential employers, don’t just rely on sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook to find a placement. Many companies still welcome contact from potential interns via more traditional routes. Rather than making contact through online sites, a well-written letter or email to the right person is more likely to get you noticed. It is also worth noting that companies often outsource their search for interns to recruitment agencies, so you should get in touch with the leading recruitment consultants in the regions and industry sectors you are targeting.  Ken Jones, President & CEO of Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd, the European headquarters of Astellas Pharma Inc.

3. Question their motives

Ask yourself what you are going to get out of it, and what the company is offering the placement for. Good internships will have some structure to them, so the employer should be able to tell you beforehand what sorts of things you’ll be doing and the kind of support you will get. Although you can’t expect to be running the show as an intern, Continue reading →

Internships: Time to think small?

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For those keen to get an internship, SMEs provide a different kind of experience, and placements may be easier to come by.

Personality is key at SMEs Credit: Stockbyte/Thinkstock

By Rob Blythe, contributor

Securing internships and graduate placements in 2012 is difficult. There has been a 25% increase in applications to graduate employers since 2009, with an average of 52 applications for each job, according to a comprehensive survey by High Flyers Research.

Certainly, as you’ll know if you’ve found your way to this blog, research roles are particularly competitive, but the landscape isn’t as bleak as the statistics suggest.

There are only vast numbers of applications for a small minority of well-publicised opportunities. Big corporations spend enormous amounts of money making sure their roles are really competitive both because it ensures they are introduced to the very best candidates but also because graduates subsequently really want their jobs.

But what about smaller companies? A recent survey produced by UKCES that interviewed over 15,000 UK employers from a cross-section of sectors reported that 27% of businesses have recruited someone aged between 19 and 24 in the past twelve months. There are jobs out there, but the vast majority will be with companies you won’t be familiar with and won’t have been on campus trying to reach you there.

‘SMEs’ (or small to medium enterprises) is an umbrella term for a real array of businesses. It might be a company run from the founder’s kitchen table or a business with hundreds of employees and very slick offices. The category represents the vast majority of UK employers – and a vast majority of prospective jobs.

If you haven’t considered applying for work placements at SMEs, you could be missing out. Not only are there fewer applicants per role but also some real advantages to the roles themselves. Working in close contact with senior management gives any new recruit the chance to learn from the best, and fast-growing businesses delegate real responsibility early on.

Finding the roles can be the hard part. To increase your chances of success:

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Want an internship in 2013? Then now is your time

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What deadline?{credit}iStockphoto/Thinkstock{/credit}

We know it’s nearly the Christmas holidays, and you deserve a break. But as well as getting some well-earned rest, this is also the perfect time to start thinking about what you want to do next Summer. If some kind of internship or work placement is on the list, don’t get too comfortable in front of the fireplace. With many of the application deadlines for top placements closing in the New Year, now’s the time to make sure your name is on the shortlist.

If  you’re not sure where to start, the good news is we’re here to do the hard work for you – just call it an early Christmas present. Over the next few weeks, Naturejobs will be will be serving up advice on how to find the right placement – whether at home or abroad, tips for an attention-grabbing application, and knowing your rights when it comes to what people can and can’t ask you to do. We’ll also show you how to make the most out of your internship when the time comes around, including how to make a good impression and all-important networking.

Follow the series here on the Naturejobs blog, and if you don’t already, you can also get updates by following us on social media:

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As always, we would love to hear your thoughts and share your experiences, so keep in touch, and let us know if there’s any advice that is missing. And have a great holiday!