The Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) recently published a comprehensive reportentitled ‘Graduate Employment and Internships: issues from the environmental sciences and sustainability sectors’.
In today’s difficult graduate employment market there is growing controversy surrounding internships, which being often unpaid are sometimes seen as exploitative. To identify the problems surrounding graduate employment, specifically the value that internships play in aiding graduates into employment, the IES conducted a series of surveys aimed at both graduates and employers.
Fundamentally, the survey identified that there is little consensus amongst both graduates and employers regarding the purpose, worth and format that internships should take. Despite these findings, SocEnv’s experience of offering a paid internship to a recent environmental science graduate was extremely positive. SocEnv found the skills, confidence and hard working ethics of our intern Michelle Farrell, to be invaluable. Michelle has contributed to re-development of SocEnv’s website (to be launched in late Spring) as well as designing and producing regular electronic newsletters which can be viewed on the >> main news page. 
