Mon, 20 Feb 2012

The Careers Group, the University of London’s careers service, has been praised by London Mayor Boris Johnson as “fantastic” for its work supporting graduates into employment.

The Careers Group’s director, Anne-Marie Martin, also the president of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services says that internships are key to improving graduate employment prospects, and “also provide great value to employers”.

“A very high proportion of employers on our programme end up offering their interns a permanent role, but not all internship programmes balance the benefits to both parties and it’s important that employers understand their responsibilities and how to avoid the more questionable schemes on offer.”

The Careers Group reports having over 300 companies signed up to its Winning Internships event taking place on 22 February at the University of London. Most of the firms are London-based SMEs, but also include broadcaster BskyB, retailer Marks & Spencer, the NHS and accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers.

For more on graduate recruitment, see the feature ‘Graduating with the wrong skills’ in Recruiter’s new February edition.