Internships are an excellent tool for advancing your skills in a field of interest. These positions help young adults find a career path, test their aptitude for certain kinds of work, and further develop their resume or CV. Internships are almost always unpaid as the intern is gaining skills and experience. It is critical to find the right match so that the relationship is beneficial to both intern and company. Full time students have the easiest time finding internships because of their age, lack of real life skills, amount of free time, and education.

To secure an internship aboard, it is often necessary to find a company that sets-up the internship. Internships are commonly set-up through a university for its students. However, British companies do not recruit interns extensively like in other countries. In finance or banks for example, internship is often synonymous with "discovering how a company works". English companies recruit more often within Graduate programmes, set up every year and often (but not always) ending with a full employment in the company.

Internships in England

London is the site of the vast majority of internships in the UK. As the center of the UK's economy as well as a world power, it is an excellent market to gain skills for life. There are numerous companies headquartered within the city that offer excellent opportunities.

Search for Internships

Online

There are online search engines to help you find an internship:
• Efinancial Careers
• Intern Abroad
• Transitions Abroad
• InternJobs
• Milkround.com
• Internwise.co.uk - a free internship job board that helps connecting employers with talented and ambitious students and newly graduates

It is also possible to apply directly with organizations. Research your area of interest and find if there are any organizations with online applications.

Newspaper

The main classified ads paper is the Loot. They publish weekly two specialist recruitment magazines: Loot Recruit and Jobs Week are distributed in and around London.

Several other papers have a helpful jobs' section.

These include:
• The Daily Record
• Metro (free paper available daily in underground stations)
• The Guardian (Monday - marketing, secretarial, Tuesday - education, Wednesday - social and health work, Thursday - science and IT)
• The Evening Standard
• The Daily Mirror

Networking

If you know anyone in England - get in touch! It's not necessarily what you know, but who you know. Friends and family, or any contact you have in your desired business may know of a position. There are also professional social networks like Linkedin which allows for people to make business contacts.

Public Postings

Many places have billboards offering advertisements for a variety of goods and services. Watch these boards for useful postings. Laundrettes, cafes, grocery stores, community centers, and bars all might have private ads.

Also check out expat forums, the London network, and our expat job listings.

Programs

To secure an internship aboard, it is usually easiest to find a company that sets-up the internship. Some agencies require a fee to secure a placement. Such agencies include:

AIESEC - Student-run, non-profit organization which offers paid internships in business and technical fields in around 90 countries and territories.

CEI-London - A member of the British-French Commercial Chamber (Chambre de Commerce Franco-Britannique) and offers internships in London.

Internship-UK - Offers Internship Programmes in London with subsidized accommodation and food (in London and New Romney office). They might also offer bonus travel awards and benefits. Positions are available in office, reception, marketing, sales, IT, accounting, hotel management.

Leonardo da Vinci - The Leonardo da Vinci Community vocational training action programme promotes projects based on co-operation between the various players in vocational training. This includes training bodies, vocational schools, universities, businesses, chambers of commerce, etc.

KapeTalent.com - Offers guaranteed internship programs in London and rest of the UK, for students and graduates.

Visa

If hired through an agency, the agency usually guides the intern through the process.

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