10/12/22

How do you design an internship programme that 97% of participants are satisfied with?


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.

Internships are one of the most effective career development tools for university graduates or career changers. For employers, on the other hand, it is a real staff breeding ground for the best talent. For older generations of employees, they may still be associated with making coffee or performing only the simplest office tasks, but today's internship reality is quite different. Young people appreciate this form of getting to know their future employers, and companies praise the opportunity to show potential talent their work culture.

According to research by Pracuj.pl, internships are still a very popular form of career development. As many as 55% of respondents indicated an internship as the source of their first professional experience. Importantly, internship programmes are often chosen by later professionals - 8 out of 10 respondents indicated that they had completed an internship in line with their field of study and further career.

How to evaluate whether an internship programme has been a success? The best indicator is the level of satisfaction of its participants. According to internal research, the Career Starter internship programme run by Marsh European Business Support Centre met the expectations of 97% of participants, and all graduates of the programme said they would recommend it to their friends. What contributed to such results from this initiative?

Learning through practice and real development

Marsh is a leading global provider of insurance and risk management services. The firm has been in business for more than 150 years. Marsh European Business Support Centre (EBSC), meanwhile, is an award-winning business support centre providing a first-class, end-to-end service to hundreds of Marsh teams and their clients across Europe. The Career Starter internship programme launched in 2021 and is currently recruiting for its next edition (which will run until 8 October).

Participants in the first editions of the Marsh EBSC internship programme indicated that one of the key factors in their positive evaluation of the internship was that they were able to gain work experience by supporting the centre's full-time staff in serving clients. They carried out tasks that were part of the company's business processes and interacted in teams made up of both interns and regular employees. They also had the opportunity to take part in special business projects aimed at finding solutions to improve the work of Marsh EBSC.

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.
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The learning & development pathway is also an important element of the internship programme. Each participant in the programme took part in specific training courses that introduced them to Marsh and Marsh EBSC. In addition, trainees were able to choose from additional specialisation modules in line with their career plans, which are also available to full-time employees of the centre.

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.
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Flexibility

The second most frequently cited advantage of the Career Starter programme was its flexibility. Participants in previous editions were able to gather valuable experience by operating in a hybrid working environment. In addition, interns participating in the programme spend min. 20 hours per week to complete their assigned tasks, allowing them to combine career development with continuing education, and they set their own level of time commitment to the internship programme with their colleagues. Marsh EBSC also offers flexibility in terms of the forms of collaboration - both employment and contract work is an option, depending on the candidate's preference.

The tasks that interns carry out are in line with their study profile, but also their level of experience. Each Career Starter participant works with a mentor who introduces them to the organisation and the specifics of working in an international environment. The development of new competences is flexible, adapted to the level of the trainee.

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.
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Remuneration for the entire period of internship

According to research by Pracuj.pl, for 78% of Poles, the amount of earnings is crucial when choosing a job. The situation is no different for internship programmes. Marsh EBSC data shows that the salary for an internship is the main criterion considered by those looking for such programmes. It may therefore seem extremely surprising that as many as 60% of Polish internship programmes do not provide for remuneration for its participants.

Participants in the Career Starter programme are paid for the entire duration of the internship, which is 4 months. Remuneration is based on the level of time commitment to the internship, with participants working with Marsh EBSC for no less than 20 hours per week.

Responding to the real needs of candidates

The final factor described here, but not the least of which is that up to 97% of Career Starter participants were satisfied with their internship at Marsh EBSC, is that the entire initiative was planned on the basis of information and in-depth insights from the centre's students and candidates.

Prior to the launch of the programme, the Marsh EBSC team consulted extensively with 7 universities and colleges across Poland to best understand the needs of students seeking their first work experience in their academic specialties. The department responsible for creating the programme also analysed the best examples of internship programmes from all Marsh McLennan Companies around the world and conducted an audit of internship initiatives available on the Polish labour market.

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.
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Paweł Luty