What’s the best fit for you - an internship or grad programme?

Before entering full-time employment, students and graduates may seek a taster of what work would be like in a given company or industry. Depending on age, qualifications and time available, people may undertake work experience, an internship, or a graduate programme.

Work experience tends to be a short term arrangement where someone will spend a week or two within a company or organisation to gain an understanding of how the company or industry works. It often involves shadowing a permanent member of staff, and taking on some minor tasks allowing those on work experience to contribute to the business in a meaningful way, while also allowing them to learn on the job. Many graduates will choose to apply for internships or graduate programmes. Internships tend to be for shorter periods of time whereas graduate programmes can range from one to three years in duration and are usually highly structured around the work you do.

Internships

Internships last anywhere from a month up to a year, with some third-level courses including an internship as a built-in part of the degree, for a semester or a year. In these instances, internships may also be referred to as “work placement”, or simply “placement”. The duties of an intern can vary greatly depending on the size of the organisation and the nature of the work. In fact, depending on the industry, the word “intern” can mean very different things. For example, junior doctors are described as “interns” for their first first full year working after having finished their medical degree, despite it being a full-time position.

Other industries and organisations, such as those in accounting and law, have had internship programmes for many years, and they are an entrenched part of the organisation. In these kinds of companies, the duties of the intern are firmly established, and internships are part of the hierarchy of the organisation, with interns often assigned to specific departments with particular tasks. In other industries, internships may not be part of any specific scheme or programme, and responsibilities may range from low-level tasks to being actively involved in high level decision making and projects.

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There has been much debate surrounding payment for internships. For many years, unpaid internships were the norm, where interns undertook the placement in order to gain experience, develop their professional network, in the hopes that it might lead to a full-time position. However, in many jurisdictions, unpaid internships are now explicitly illegal, and interns must be compensated for their work. In Ireland, according to the Workplace Relations Commission, there is “no exemption in law from the obligation to pay the national minimum hourly rate”, and “therefore national minimum wage rates apply to work experience placements, work trials, internships and any other employment practice involving unpaid work or working for room and board, regardless of the duration of the engagement”. As a result, all interns are required to be appropriately compensated for their work.

KPMG offers two month summer internships, as well as work placements that last between six and 11 months. Paul Vance, Head of Resourcing at KPMG Ireland describes the internships and work placements as “a terrific opportunity to ‘try out’ a possible future career. The worst case scenario is that the student will have a terrifically enhanced CV at the end of the programme. In the ideal scenario and most often, we will provide them a pathway and future graduate career. They will be able to make informed career decisions as a result of their experience”. Both internships and work placements “are designed to give students meaningful client work experience, mentoring from our staff, as well as exposure to a corporate environment and the social aspect”.

Similarly at PwC, summer internships are available each year for eight weeks for penultimate year college and university students, while work placements are for penultimate and final year students and can last between three and twelve months. In both cases, “candidates should expect to be immersed in life at PwC straight away,” explains PwC People Partner, Emma Scott. “There will be on the job and technical training, where they pick up transferable skills such as agile learning and adaptability, that they can use when they return to college or when starting a graduate programme.”

At Matheson, one of Ireland’s leading law firms, their summer internship aims “to give students a real insight into our work, people and culture, so that they can decide if Matheson and a career in law is right for them”, according to Nicola White, Director of Learning and Development at Matheson. Following successful completion of the internship programme, interns have the opportunity to secure a training contract with the firm.

Graduate programmes are fixed-term, entry-level positions, specifically for those who have just completed third-level education. These schemes are highly sought after, and offer graduates the opportunity to get first hand experience and insights into industries, as part of structured, on the ground training. Popular graduate programmes across Ireland include those at professional services firms such as KPMG, Deloitte, PwC and EY, and also those across a range of other industries, such as those at LIDL, ALDI, Jameson, Bord Bia, Accenture, Matheson, Arthur Cox, Fulbright, Salesforce, ESB, Central Bank, among many others. The programmes tend to last between one and three and a half years, and compensation may increase as graduates hit certain milestones throughout the programme, and their level of responsibility grows within the company.

Grad programmes

Graduate programmes can also offer graduates the opportunity to get a sample of several areas within the one business, with those taking part in the programme often getting placed in different sections of the company, or completing set rotations over the course of the scheme. Grad schemes are highly structured and usually involve varying degrees of feedback and support. This is in the hopes that upon completion of the programme, graduates are aware of where their strengths lie, and in what area of the business they most wish to pursue a career, or even in some cases, in which area they would like to continue their career within the company where they completed their graduate programme.

In certain industries, specifically accounting and law, graduate programmes can incorporate the exams graduates need to become accredited into their schemes, offering study leave and time off to complete exams, in order to become fully qualified in their field. Vance describes KPMG’s graduate programme as “a defined pathway to becoming a qualified business professional, and in most cases, with the chartered accounting qualification,” as the company integrates the exams periods and necessary time off to study for said exams into the programme itself.

Each graduate programme puts a big emphasis on mentorship, with graduates often being assigned mentors to guide them through each stage of the graduate programme, or with seniors throughout the company mentoring them at different stages over the course of the programme.

It is also important to ensure that the graduates are compensated in an appropriate manner, while being exposed to challenging work that helps them to learn and grow as a professional. Vance says, “To attract the top graduates, we need to meet their expectations, offer them rewarding and challenging work.”

Across work experience, internships and graduate programmes, there are a host of benefits for the individuals undertaking the placement, and for the company offering it. Many of those that undertake a placement graduate programme of some description will return to that company at some stage, or will receive references and make connections that will help them in future career endeavours.

Scott asserts: “For PwC each programme means we have a diverse, forward thinking and strong workforce that thinks outside the box and brings new and interesting ideas and solutions to the table.”

White similarly believes that investing in training young people in a variety of ways pays off in a big way at Matheson. “We believe that talented people with relevant expertise are the surest route to success. This is why we invest so heavily in our internship and graduate programmes as it allows us to grow and shape our people to be the best business professionals and lawyers in the market.”