UEA students help business prepare for the future
Businesses across East Anglia are turning to interns and placement students from the University of East Anglia (UEA) to help innovate, digitise and future-proof their organisations.
Increasing numbers of businesses are hosting placement students and interns with many offering permanent positions for UEA students when they graduate.
Interns and temporary student employees offer valuable benefits to businesses in accelerated growth phases. “UEA have been fundamental to EposNow’s growth mission, the interns we have had here are full of creative ideas,” said Jacyn Heavens, CEO at EposNow which is the fastest growing Electronic Point of Sale company in the UK.
Diverse talent pool
International consultancies are capitalising on the benefits of the diverse pool of UEA students, says Pete Waterman, Growth Advisor and Brand Projector at Grant Thornton: “Students have great exposure to many different international cultures and are guided to think more broadly. Bringing this mind-set of showing respect to others and being curious into our business is a massive asset for us.”
The University works with businesses to meet their needs, including providing recruitment support, placements and internships. The UEA Internship Programme contracts are extremely flexible, providing temporary paid workers who can work within a company from three weeks to one year on a part-time or full-time contract.
Julie Schofield is joint head of careers, business engagement at CareerCentral at UEA, the university’s careers service, and said: “We find that businesses need economic and agile recruitment solutions and quality talent – which is what they can find here at UEA. We work in the most appropriate way to help and if needed we can manage the recruitment process, including advertising to over 17,000 students, sending over CVs, and processing PAYE through our systems – making it much easier to hire a new resource and appreciate their impact right away. We also often have subsidies to help with the costs.”
Skills challenge
Chris Sargisson, CEO of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, who encourages work-based learning opportunities between local businesses and UEA, said: “We know skill is one of our region’s biggest challenges and with many businesses struggling to prepare for a digital future, interns and student workers can be valuable assets in a difficult labour market. Businesses can benefit from fresh new talent, with desirable digital and research skills, who can help define new channels to reach customers or identify inefficient processes that could save them resources or money.”
Internships are a win-win for both students and employers and a try before you buy solution for both parties. Simran Kaur Kalsi, a second year International Development student, completed an Internship at Great Yarmouth Council and said: “This experience shows that I am capable of working in a council environment, in teams and on my own. During my internship I found that my confidence improved and I look forward to using my new skills in the future.”
Want to know more?
UEA is one of the UK’s top 15 Universities in the country and hosts a pool of over 17,000 students from all over the world, with access to 4,000 recent graduates. If you think your business could benefit from hiring a UEA intern or placement student, contact UEA Careers Service at access.talent@uea.ac.uk.
