University of Bristol Internship Scheme: finding the right track for your career

The Internship Scheme is now open again, enabling students and recent graduates to gain high-quality, paid work experience, and organisations find the right talent for their businesses.

Last year’s pilot was a wonderful success, and we’re looking to build upon it this year by increasing the number of opportunities available.

The scheme is open to all current students and recent graduates, and aims to present students with internship opportunities in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) nationwide, as well as charities, non-government organisations, social enterprises and start-ups.

Benefits

The benefits of undertaking an internship can be manifold. They include:

  • Looking great on your CV, potentially giving you a competitive edge in the job market.
  • Helping you with your career choices, possibly leading to a permanent position with a company.
  • Expediting the growth of your professional network as you meet people working in your chosen industry.
  • Giving you the opportunity to demonstrate and develop transferable skills, such as teamwork and commercial awareness.
  • Contributing to the Bristol PLuS Award.

Get involved

Internship opportunities will be posted online on our JobShop over the course of the year. For application tips and advice, see our ‘Internship Advice’ blog post and the Careers Service website.

Students are also encouraged to contact organisations speculatively if they have an idea about a particular sector or business they are interested in pursuing and then to get in touch with our Internship Manager.

Student view

The response from students who undertook an internship as part of the scheme last year has been very positive. Rachel Hosie, an undergraduate in the School of Modern Languages, enjoyed a successful internship at a local SME that matched her interests in social media and also presented an opportunity for extended employment:

Back in March of this year, I was looking for a paid internship for the summer to earn some money, but also to gain some valuable work experience. I searched on the Careers Service website and stumbled across an opportunity for an internship with a new social media start-up company based in Bristol. It sounded right up my street, so immediately sent in my CV and covering letter. Soon after, I had a fascinating interview with the Managing Director, Creative Director and Technical Director, which resulted in me getting the Social Media Intern position!

They explained to me just how much they appreciated the support of the scheme as it allowed them to employ someone else (me!) which they wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise as they were a new company. I’d originally thought the internship would be full time for four weeks in the summer, but instead, I started my work as a part-time job, to be spread out over four months with the money from the University. This worked brilliantly for both me and the company, and since the four months has come to an end, the organisation has carried on my employment with them as a part-time job now that they have the money to pay me themselves. I’ve learnt a lot as a result of my work experience, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the internship scheme to other students.’

Want to find out more? Take a look at our UoB Internship Scheme webpage.

Dr Hannah Mossman, Internship Manager

Career profile: freelance foreign correspondent

Pile of newspapers

Sara, a 2005 English graduate from UCL, has spent the past year working as a freelance foreign correspondent in Cairo, Egypt. Below she tells us more about this and answers questions to help Bristol students and graduates considering a similar career.

After leaving university, I first completed a six month internship at the press office at UNICEF, the United Nation’s Children’s Fund, where I helped to organise events and campaigns and worked to boost media coverage of the organisation’s work. After gaining work experience at The Sunday Times, I became a trainee at the paper and later gained a job on the world news desk where I worked as a reporter and researcher for four years.

In my current job, I am based in Cairo where I write news and feature articles for several UK newspapers and magazines. It has been an amazing experience to live abroad, learn more about Egyptian culture and follow the aftermath of the Arab Spring here, particularly witnessing the country’s first democratic elections and all the changes that has brought with it. Being a freelancer has given me the chance to work for many different organisations and develop new skills, such as getting into radio broadcasting. It also allows me more freedom to work on stories that I am interested in.

How did you get your job?

I realised that in order to progress within my chosen career I was going to have to take a risky move and quit a stable desk job in London to brave going it alone. I arrived in Cairo with very few Egyptian contacts or resources, it was a scary but invigorating experience and within a matter of weeks  (to my relief!) I gained a fairly substantial amount of work.

How did your degree help?

Having a degree helped improve my writing style and my ability to analyse and use information I gained to form a coherent argument – both essential skills for my current job.  I also feel I benefited from having read widely during the course of my literature degree both in terms of the greater overall cultural and historical awareness this has given me as well as learning about different styles of writing. I think that no one can really become a good writer without reading widely.

Did your time working for a newspaper help you to set yourself up as a freelance correspondent?

I think having worked at The Sunday Times before coming to Egypt helped me a great deal by ensuring I had a deep understanding of what news stories would be likely to interest the British press. I also built up relationships with journalists and foreign correspondents at the paper as well as freelancers that we used living abroad and I was lucky enough to be able to ask their advice about starting out and for tips on who to contact about freelance work  opportunities at different publications.

Are language skills essential for foreign correspondents?

People often assume that language skills are a must if you want to be a foreign correspondent, but that’s far from true. Many people become successful overseas reporters without ever speaking much of the local language – the key is to find a proficient translator. I do speak Arabic as well as some intermediate Spanish and French and there’s no doubt this has helped immensely, particularly during my time in Cairo, if only in terms of cutting down on the cost of a translator but that means often working alone and often being accompanied by a local who is familiar with the area and regional customs can be a great advantage.

What advice would you give anyone else wanting to get into foreign journalism?

As getting into journalism is so competitive you need to make sure you get lots of work experience to prove your dedication to the profession.  During a work placement pay close attention to the types of topics that interest that particular media outlet so that you can pitch ideas that will impress them. If you are thinking of going abroad, choose somewhere newsworthy, where there is likely to be a lot going on, investigate where most papers have staff correspondents and where they might be able to use a freelancer. It also helps to choose somewhere where the cost of living is low. Before choosing to go freelance, I set up meetings with editors at several newspapers and magazines to discuss what kind of stories they would be interested in taking from me. It also helps if they can put a face to a name when you call in from thousands of miles away!

Any work experience tips?

Many journalism work experience opportunities are advertised on websites such as journalism.co.uk  and GorkanaJobs.com. It is also worth contacting newspapers and magazines directly by writing to the managing editor or editor of a particular section including details of why you’d be interested in working for that section.  If you do not hear back, do follow up with a phone call, newspaper offices can often be somewhat erratic. While daily newspapers are often oversubscribed, Sunday newspapers and regional publications are sometimes less busy.

Final note from the Careers Service:

The Guardian Careers Blog has a number of useful posts with tips for aspiring journalists. See, for example, ‘Working in journalism: what I wish I’d learned at university’ and ‘Finding journalism work experience and opportunities on Twitter’.