Students And Firms Invited To Step Up For Mutual Benefit

6th April 2009

University students and recent graduates in the Highlands and Islands are being offered a great opportunity to boost their job prospects, through an eight-week work placement during the summer holidays.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is supporting Shell Step - a UK-wide national placement programme - by subsidising 30 student placements with dynamic, innovative small businesses across the region this summer.

As well as being paid £210 a week during the placement, participating students and graduates have a chance to enter the local, regional and national competitions which offer cash prizes.

The scheme is this year open to all current degree study students from second year onwards, as well as those who graduated last year (2008) or will graduate this year (2009).

Ruth Sime, a development manager with HIE said: "This is a great opportunity for students and graduates to gain industry experience and for small businesses to get a committed member of staff over the summer at a subsidised rate. We want to hear from students and graduates keen to take part, and also from businesses outside the Moray Firth area which can offer participants a useful role.

"It is ideal for firms that wish to get a particular project done and some typical placements in the past have involved the design and implementation of websites, marketing plans, reviewing and setting up systems, environmental audits, analysis of production methods or accountancy systems, and design of new production concepts.

"Evidence shows that industry experience counts very highly in employers' recruiting decisions so it will be a real bonus for graduates to be able to include these placements in their CVs."

For more information on the scheme go towww.shellstep.org.uk Local agent, Inspire and Impact, will contact those who register on the website.

Shell Step is one of the UK's leading nationwide placement programmes. Over the past 20 years, Shell Step has helped undergraduates deliver over 22,000 projects within small and medium sized businesses across the UK.

The programme enables businesses to grow and develop by providing a dedicated and enthusiastic student to work on a specific project that they may not have the time or resources to complete.

Students benefit from the programme by having practical work experience and a challenging project to complete. This will enable them to improve their skills and provides real experience in applying knowledge, which will make them more attractive to future employers.

Over 97% of businesses that have taken part in Shell Step said the programme had a positive impact on their business's performance. While more than 97% of students felt that their employability had improved thanks to Shell Step.

All in all, Shell Step is Shell UK's largest social investment programme and supports 600 projects a year.


For more information go to www.shellstep.org.uk