Preparing to host an intern

A four-week paid internship is a key part of the Career Ready programme. The experience gives young people the opportunity to develop vital career skills and experience, and employers the chance to attract diverse, local talent and engage their staff through volunteering.

Held in the summer holidays between school years 12/13, they include a blend of remote and office-based placements.

We have prepared extensive guidance to help you provide a high-quality experience for young people and yourself as the hosting employer.

We are committed to preparing young people for future sustainable and green careers. Find out more in our green internships section.

Key documents:

A four-week paid internship is a key part of the Career Ready Programme. The experience gives young people the opportunity to develop vital career skills and experience, and employers the chance to attract diverse, local talent and engage their staff through volunteering.

Held in the summer holidays between school years 12/13, they include a blend of remote and office-based placements.

We have prepared extensive guidance to help you provide a high-quality experience for young people and yourself as the hosting employer.

We are committed to preparing young people for future sustainable and green careers, ensuring that we contribute to creating a more inclusive and sustainable future. If you’d like to find out more about how you can support our work and enable young people to access green internships to help the UK’s journey to net zero. Find out more in our green internships section.

Key documents:

Key milestones

The following dates and actions have been highlighted as key milestones during the internship preparation process.

January to March

Employers to edit and finalise job descriptions

31 March

Deadline for submission of job descriptions – If you encounter any difficulty meeting this deadline, we kindly ask that you reach out to your main contact at Career Ready for assistance.

April to June

May
Non-competitive interviews held

27 May
Deadline for students to be allocated to each internship

June
Supervisor briefing calls take place

Pre-internship calls with students
Gaining media consent

July to August

7 July – 1 August

Internships take place

August – September

Supervisor surveys to be completed

Everything you need to know

The following guidance has been prepared to help support you in the delivery of your four-week paid internship(s). Thank you to all of you who have worked with us to shape this.

Complete and submit job descriptions

You will have access to our employer portal where you can edit and/or approve job descriptions by the end of March, including a named internship supervisor for each student so they know who they will be working with. The job description is designed to give your student(s) an overview of the work they will be doing, and the skills required or to be developed.

We have produced a portal guidance document to support you.

Working Hours

Working hours regulation states that under 18s cannot work more than 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week.

Some of the young people we work will have part-time jobs, caring responsibilities or other commitments that mean they cannot work a traditional working day or full-time hours. We want all of our young people to have the same access to internships and so ask employers to work with them and us to find a solution to any barriers a young person may face. Please refer to the section below ‘the young people we work with’ for guidance. Further guidance can be found on the ACAS website.

Student Selection

Internships are open only to students on the Career Ready programme. All of the students go through a selection process to be on the programme and to have an internship. School/college Coordinators and Career Ready Regional Managers work together to select the best candidate for the role on offer. More information can be found here.

Schedule student interviews

In addition to providing important insights and experience of the world of work, the paid internship gives young people the opportunity to understand the recruitment process, from reading and understanding a job description to preparing for and attending a non-competitive interview.

We ask that all employers provide an interview experience to help prepare students for future job, college, and university applications. Interviews can be conducted face to face or via your preferred online platform (MS Teams, Google Meet etc). This is potentially the first opportunity to meet each other and explain what the student can expect during the internship. It is helpful if the internship supervisor can take part. Interviews should ideally take place during May.

We have collated some sample, non-competitive interview questions which you may wish to use and there is further information on interviews here.

Identify and guide internship supervisors

Internship supervisors will play a leading role in supporting students’ internship experience.

This is an excellent development opportunity too, giving staff an experience of management, and identifying people who are keen to be involved will be helpful.

Many employers also provide a dedicated day-to-day buddy for an intern, so that they have a go to person for any questions and support needed beyond the tasks / projects assigned.

More information on onboarding can be found here.

Student preparation

All Career Ready students attend Masterclass 4: ‘Preparation for work’ prior to their internship. We also brief students about the more practical elements of working such as Right to Work documentation, what a payslip looks like and basic tax info. Communication with students in advance of the start of the internship is key and helps the process run smoothly.

More information about on-boarding and inductions can be found here.

Conclude and promote the internship

Students benefit from delivering a presentation at the end of their internship, covering what they have learned from the experience and how they feel it has helped them to develop.

Many organisations use this as an opportunity to gather feedback too. This is a great way for others in your organisation to appreciate the difference you are making to young people. We love it when you promote your involvement with Career Ready and highlight students’ internship achievements. Articles in an internal newsletter/intranet, press releases, discussions at Chamber of Commerce meetings or other networking events helps to spread the word about your organisation’s involvement and can encourage other employers to get involved.

Please also share and celebrate your involvement across your social media channels (tag us @CareerReadyUK). We cannot wait to share what you post across our extensive network. We will share a promotional pack with you ahead of the start of internships.

We will be sending a feedback survey to you and your internship supervisors. The feedback from these surveys really helps inform how future internships will work.

Internships model guidance.

The young people we work with

We are incredibly proud to work with our young people and seeing them develop throughout the programme and beyond is a great source of satisfaction to us. We support those who need a platform to reach their potential, working with young people who meet a combination of criteria, including the following:

No parental history of higher education
Under-represented ethnic background
Experience of Local Authority care and/or estranged from family
Caring responsibilities

This document details some of the ways you can support your intern and things that will be helpful for you to consider.

Skills for Career Success

Throughout their time on the Career Ready Programme students work towards developing key skills in preparation for joining the workplace. Working in partnership with employers and educators we have developed a set of skills and outcomes called Skills for Career Success. After their internship students will be surveyed on how they feel they have developed these skills. You may find these key skills a good way to help structure the workload of your student and set objectives. Find out more on the Skills for Career Success.

Right to Work

It is the responsibility of the employer to collect the Right to Work evidence from students as per government guidelines. We communicate to students what the basic requirement are and ask school/college coordinators to check they have the correct documentation.

For the most up to date requirements on the Right to Work process please refer to the Government guidelines: https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work. A high level summary of this and information about ability to work can be found here.

Safeguarding

Career Ready is committed to the safeguarding of young people and keeping them safe from harm. Please take the time to read our guidance on Safeguarding: Defining Safeguarding, Safeguarding Roles and Responsibilities and Safeguarding Process Flow Chart. We will also cover Safeguarding in our Supervisor briefings.

Code of good practice

Treat everyone with dignity and respect.
Treat all young people equally. Show no favoritism.
Plan meetings and activities in an open environment in sight of others.
Keep other managers informed of where you are and what you are doing.
Respect a young person’s right to privacy.
Allow young people to talk about any concerns about the workplace they may have.
Encourage others to challenge any attitudes or behaviours they do not like.
Avoid being drawn into inappropriate attention-seeking behavior e.g. tantrums, crushes.
Avoid inappropriate language, behaviour, or contact.
Don’t make suggestive remarks or threats to a young person, even in fun.
Remember someone else might misinterpret your actions, no matter how well-intentioned.
Never trivialise abuse or condone abusive peer activities e.g. bullying.
Don’t form a relationship that is an abuse of trust with a young person.
Don’t just rely on your good name to protect you.
Put this code into practice at all times, even at sensitive moments.

If you suspect abuse, if a young person confides in you or if a complaint is made about any adult or about yourself, it is your duty to report the concern to your senior manager. DO NOT let allegations, suspicions, or concerns about abuse go unreported.

In such cases:

Allow the young person to speak without interruption, accept what is said.
Offer immediate understanding and reassurance; pass no judgment.
Advise that you will try to offer support but that you must pass the information on.
Immediately contact the safeguarding officer at the student’s school/college. This may not be the Career Ready coordinator but they can direct you.
Write careful notes of what you witnessed, heard or were told. Use the actual words where possible.
Sign, date, and pass your notes to the student’s Career Ready coordinator in a sealed envelope (as they may not be the nominated safeguarding person).
Make a written note of when this information was reported and to whom it was given.
Notify your manager that an issue has arisen but do not disclose the nature.
Try to ensure no one is placed in a position that could cause further concern or compromises.

If you are concerned about any discussions that take place or have any suspicions that something is wrong please contact our Designated Safeguarding Officers:

Initial enquiries: safeguarding@careerready.org.uk
Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO): Sian Robertson, Director of Programme & Operations | 07525754829 sian.robertson@careerready.org.uk
Deputy DSO: Anthony Bruton | Head of Programme | 07801428034 | anthony.bruton@careerready.org.uk

Paying interns

Your commitment to paying students during their internship is so important in ensuring wider access to such an opportunity. Internships are often a required step onto the career ladder, yet unpaid opportunities exclude talented young people who don’t have the means to work without pay. By paying all Career Ready interns, together we level the playing field, boost social mobility, and diversify talent in the workplace.

Career Ready champions the Real Living Wage as a means for employers to support social mobility and this is important now more than ever with our current cost of living crisis. Many of our corporate partners and employer supporters signed up as Real Living Wage employers and we encourage everyone working with us, where they can, to follow best practice and adopt the Real Living Wage for Career Ready young people. The Real Living Wage guidance can be found here and the Government guidance on Minimum wage can be found here.

That said, to aid your internship budget planning, an intern should be paid in line with your company policy and at minimum in line with statutory guidance around pay.

Outside of London/In Scotland a student working 35 hours at the real living wage would be paid £12.60 per hour equating to £1,764 over the four week period. In London they would be paid £13.85 per hour equating to £1,939.In very exceptional circumstances, Career Ready can manage the payroll on your behalf. We charge at administration fee of £160 & VAT per student.” More information on internship wage rates can be found here.

Salary advances

It is appreciated when an employer wants to help alleviate the financial pressures our young people face when starting an internship e.g. cost of travel, clothing and food. Please refer to the guidance provided if you are going to support your intern/s with a salary advance.

You can find out more in our guidance document.

Absence reporting

If your student intern does not turn up for work or they ring in sick can you please let us know by email safeguarding@careerready.org.uk by 11am each day. We will then liaise with the school/college.

Absence Reporting Guide

Green internships

With funding from the Bupa Foundation we are working to create a brighter and healthier future for young people and the planet through green internships and nurturing talent for the future. We’d love to have your support in:

Raising awareness of sustainability and the green economy
Nurturing understanding of the employment pathways open to Gen Z
Growing and enhancing the internship experience for young people to be ready to work in new roles with new skills

Key documents:

Resource library

The following guidance has been prepared to help support you in the delivery of your four-week paid internship(s). Thank you to all of you who have worked with us to shape this.