Battling for an internship

Ranjit Hayer, Career Academy Co-ordinator & Business teacher

The College’s Career Academy is going from strength to strength, with more and more businesses supporting the scheme and the latest to visit the College was the Coventry Building Society (CBS).

Graham Emery, who is Resource Planning Manager at CBS is a fierce supporter of the Career Academy. He came into College to launch CBS’s recruitment process for the summer internship that they are offering one of our lucky Career Academy students.

These internships are six weeks of paid employment and are excellent opportunities for the students. They will get really valuable experience and the networking opportunities are great too. Who knows what it could lead to if they impress during their six weeks.

All our Career Academy students have been provided with an application for CBS. They have until 4^th April to complete their applications and then Graham will short list the ten students down to just five applicants. Those five students will be asked to visit a CBS branch and will go through a selection process.

The selection process is long and difficult. It will include a written test, followed by a mock interview and then an assessment in which they will be placed in front of potential customers to see how they respond. This process will help Graham to bring the shortlist of five down to the final two students. There will be a last one-to-one interview to see who gets the internship. It is going to be a tough process for the students, but great preparation for later employment interviews.

When Graham visited recently, he spoke to the students about the skills and qualities they look for in interns and the importance of customer service in their branches. He also went to say how he has offered past interns employment at CBS because they made such an impact on the staff and customers of the local branches during their internships.

It is exciting times ahead for the students … we’ll keep you posted as to how they get on!