An internship is an extracurricular temporary paid position within a company with an emphasis on exploration and skills development rather than just employment. An paid internship gives you the chance to gain experience in a specific field, explore your interest in a particular career, develop new skills, create a network of contacts and help boost your confidence and your CV. Internships can be part-time while you study, or full-time outside of term-time and after graduation, and can vary in length from around six weeks to up to 12 months.
The Essex Interns scheme works with employers who do not have their own internships schemes, to create paid extracurricular internships that are exclusively for students and recent graduates of the University of Essex.
*Except for graduates who have gone on to further study at post-graduate level outside of the University of Essex. In this case they will fall under the careers support of their most recent University.
There is no limit to the number of internship a student or graduate may take while they are eligible to be part of the Essex Interns scheme however:
Essex Interns work with a wide range of business sectors and organisations from charities and Not for Profits, to commercial businesses and creative and cultural organisations such as museums and theatres, to create exclusive opportunities including roles in administration, project work, fundraising, marketing, business management, IT and research. We encourage students to be open minded about the opportunities, as many skills are transferrable from role to role.
Our internships are predominantly based in Essex, London and Suffolk, but we can seek internship offers from employers nationwide. Internships are available all year round, as and when we receive them from employers and could be part time around your studies or full or part time during vacations or on graduation.
If you have student immigration permission there are restrictions on the type of work you can do. Please read our immigration pages.
All Essex Interns managed internships will be paid at least the National Minimum Wage (some may offer a higher rate).
As well as being paid to improve your skills and develop your knowledge of different sectors of business, you will be able to make a significant contribution towards the development of the organisation you will be working in. There may also be opportunities to continue working within the company after the internship. Other benefits include gaining practical knowledge of the sector of work, training and development opportunities, and networking.
Please note: The promotion of an internship by Essex Interns does not constitute full endorsement of either the employer or the opportunity by Essex Interns. Information is provided in good faith but it is the responsibility of the applicant to carry out their own research and due diligence in order to satisfy themselves as to the suitability of both the opportunity and the employer for their own purposes.
You can join the scheme by completing our registration form.
Once you have joined, if we receive a new vacancy that might be of interest to you, we will email the details to you. It is then up to you to decide if you would like to apply. We cannot promise that we will find opportunities in your specific field – but we do work hard to encourage employers to offer internships in a broad spectrum of subjects and an internship is a great way to try out a new role and develop new skills.
We also advertise all of our internships on CareerHub. Our Facebook page shows our new offers, as well as other internship and career opportunities not being managed by us – so please check in there regularly.