Lack of professional experience is one of the main obstacles to obtaining an attractive job by university graduates, according to a survey conducted by Pracuj.pl. As many as 40% of people starting their careers point to this factor as the biggest barrier on their way to their dream job. The solution to this problem are internships offered by top employers. However, in order for them to be an effective tool for talent acquisition on the one hand, and a good career start on the other, they need to be properly planned.
Learning through practice and real development
During my internship, my main task was to help my teammates with day-to-day matters. They showed me how to handle various key processes and introduced me to the basics of their work, such as recording documents in various systems, contacting intermediaries and clients, etc. In addition to this, I took part in a project for interns. My project was called the 'Globetrotter Project' and it was about internal communication and building employee engagement. My team and I tried to come up with some ideas on how to improve interpersonal relations in the company and what to do to make employees feel as comfortable as possible. It was very educational and I know that some of the ideas were quite useful for our colleagues," says Julia Bonowicz from Marsh EBSC's Policy Servicing team and previously a participant in the Career Starter programme.
Learning and development is an important part of Marsh EBSC's culture. In the first half of 2022 alone, our centre's employees devoted an average of 25 hours to projects aimed at improving existing competences or acquiring new ones. In the Career Starter programme, on the other hand, as much as 20% of the placement time is dedicated exclusively to learning new competencies in the form of training and participation in special business projects," informs Marta Steer, Head of European Business Support Centre, Marsh.
Flexibility
Before joining Marsh, I studied economics at the University of Warsaw. My internship started in November and ended in March. During this time, my daily tasks mainly oscillated around the topics of process improvement, automation and reporting. I was never required to go significantly beyond my areas of specialisation from my studies. Tasks were adapted to my skills, but I was also able to develop myself. As a result, not only did I have the chance to put into practice my knowledge of programming and statistics that I had gained at university, but I was also given the space to develop new skills," notes Maciej Jasiuczenia, Business Analyst at Marsh EBSC and previously a participant in the Career Starter programme.
Remuneration for the entire period of internship
Responding to the real needs of candidates
We spent many hours carefully researching the needs of students and the realities of internship programmes in Poland and around the world. We involved our centre's team leaders throughout the process to align the needs of potential interns with their business needs. The result was a fully paid, flexible and development-oriented internship programme. Candidates have greatly appreciated our approach and this can be seen in the number of applications for each edition of Career Starter. We are also pleased with the business outcomes of this programme. After each edition, around 90% of interns are offered permanent employment at Marsh EBSC. All graduates of the first editions of the programme who decided to stay with the organisation are still an important part of our team. Therefore, we will certainly organise further editions of Career Starter," informs Marta Steer, Head of European Business Support Centre, Marsh.
