Social Care Charity Provides Valuable Internship Opportunities
A leading social care charity is offering young adults an opportunity to enrich their future career prospects by gaining valuable internship experience.
Ilford based charity, Vibrance, has built links with the Essex Interns team at the University of Essex to offer students a variety of internships programmes, from HR to Finance and Marketing, lasting from six weeks – six months. Vibrance supports 850 adults throughout London and the South East with learning disabilities and mental health issues, offering a range of community day services, low-support housing, nursing and care homes, short breaks, supported employment and self-directed services.
Nita Desir-Adeshiyan, Vibrance HR Director said: “Forging relationships with the local university and colleges is very important to us. We hope to be able to inform and help the people who will be building the future of our ever-changing society.
“Earlier this year we welcomed University of Essex psychology student, Lauren Searle, to our head office to accompany me in the HR department for six weeks. During Lauren’s time here, she thrived within the disciplinary panel environment and I would like to wish her all the best for the future. Lauren has set a very high standard for others to follow, and we’ll look forward to welcoming more interns over the coming year.”
Vibrance is now finding new ways to help the University enhance their students’ employability, with three of the Vibrance senior management team being nominated as graduate mentors.
Ms Desir-Adeshiyan, said: “I feel extremely honoured to be nominated as a mentor for the graduates of the University of Essex, along with my two colleagues, Jean Jay, Quality Director and Sam Wilkinson, Finance Director. We all offer very different skills, and are looking forward to sharing our knowledge and experience when mentoring the students.
Liz Guyar-Brown, University of Essex Senior Employer and Internships Manager said: “We are really grateful to inspiring organisations like Vibrance who offer our students and graduates interesting and rewarding internships which will challenge them, develop their skills and encourage them to think about the career they want to pursue.
“We are delighted that our developing relationship with Vibrance means their Senior Management Team are now mentoring three of our students. Mentors from external organisations and companies can make such a big impact on a student’s life by providing valuable support and advice at a vital time.
“We are always interested in hearing from organisations or businesses which would like to work with us to offer our students internship opportunities or mentoring which will really enrich their educational experience.
” The University of Essex invests a lot of time and money in giving their students the best start for their next journey once they leave the university. It has expanded its paid internships schemes for current students and recent graduates from 118 placements in 2012-2013 to 241 placements in 2013 – 2014.
An analysis of figures compiled by The Complete University Guide also shows Essex graduates are finding more graduate-level employment or postgraduate opportunities than ever before.