Adopt an Intern has found a paid position for its 1500th candidate.
A social enterprise helping graduates find work has celebrated after it found a position for its 1500th candidate.
Adopt an Intern (AAI) was founded in 2009 with the aims of supporting unemployed and underemployed graduates into paid employment and ending the culture of unpaid internships.
Since then the organisation has worked with more than 1000 employers, from glass-blowers to the Scottish Government. Candidates begin by taking short-term internships, with the majority of these going on to become full-time jobs.
Now, Zivile Laskauskaite has become the 1500th person to find paid work through AAI after accepting a nine-month internship with Stirling Council.
She said: “Going for this opportunity has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
“I have seen myself grow, both as an individual and as a young professional, and I'm excited to see what the future holds for me.”
Joy Lewis, AAI founder and chief executive, said: “This 1500 milestone not only reminds me of all the incredibly talented people we’ve helped to realise their potential, but also all the wonderfully varied businesses we’ve supported.
“At the start, our mission was getting graduates paid opportunities, but as we’ve grown, more and more employers are appreciating our ability to promote their company culture to our extremely diverse audience of motivated job seekers.
“From startups to national industry leaders like Diageo, we help them hire for potential and fresh ideas. I encourage forward-thinking employers throughout Scotland to get in touch with us and discover what we can do for them, whatever their need”.
Journalist Iain McDonald was the organisation’s first ever placed intern in 2010.
He said: “My intern position opened a lot of doors for me. It let me prove I was capable of writing to a high standard, meeting deadlines, but most of all, that I was employable. Since then I've worked in editorial and corporate positions for companies in Scotland, the Middle East and Australia.
I'm now a subeditor at DC Thomson, one of the leading media organisations in the UK.”
