Coffee break with the Employer Engagement Team
We caught up with the Employer Engagement Team at the Humber Internships Programme for a virtual coffee and a chat. Here’s what we found out.
What types of businesses are you currently supporting?
We always have quite a mixed portfolio of businesses in different sectors, which is great as it keeps things really interesting! We are currently working with some great clients including the RSPCA in Hull and East Riding, Burton Constable and Marketing Humber.
It’s also been good to see businesses such as Tick9 and Spectrum come back to us for more support to find a second intern.
The moment you’re most proud of as a team?
Our ‘Time to Shine’ campaign was launched for the programme’s first summer and we supported almost 30 local small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in finding new talent.
It’s good to know that we’ve helped businesses to find the skills needed to develop and grow, but also that we’ve contributed to giving someone at an early stage in their career a great opportunity. Over 80% of our interns are offered a permanent offer employment after their internship which is an amazing feeling.
What is your biggest challenge (in the internship market)?
COVID-19 disrupted the internship offer significantly on both sides of the hiring market.
Employers understandably held back on investing in early talent; economic downturn, social distancing and lockdown all had a significant impact.
Some employers adopted a hybrid or remote working approach. The Humber Internships Programme (HIP) supported Tick9, who launched a fully remote Software Developer internship. Whilst interns require more mentoring (especially in the early stages), Tick9 delivered a well-managed and supportive experience to ensure that both the intern and the company got the most out of the experience.
As we return to normality we are increasingly seeing more businesses return to HIP to continue their graduate recruitment efforts.
What’s coming up?
We’ve seen a sharp increase in Master-level graduates join HIP’s talent pool that have now completed their studies and are actively looking for work.
Masters-level students are available and are actively looking for work, which gives employers a brilliant opportunity to find valuable and high-level skills. Data analysts, engineers, marketing experts, business development managers; we’re seeing a really varied talent.
We’re looking forward to making plenty of new connections in the coming months with some great events lined up, including East Yorkshire Business Expo this Wednesday, Aura’s Networking Breakfast event on Thursday, Waterline, Tech Week Humber and HIP’s own employer events on 4th November and 1st December.
Finally…
What’s your go-to coffee break refreshment?
Can’t beat a hot chocolate.
Are you a dunker or a nibbler?
I’d never dream of dunking in a hot chocolate.. but give me a tea or coffee and I’m definitely a dunker. I’ve established a snap in half trick. Snap the Chocolate Digestive/Hobnob in half and then you get two clean dips… try it.
Some expert dunking advice from our Employer Engagement team!
