Call for firms to help unemployed graduates

A new campaign could solve both the problem of unemployed graduates drifting away from the construction industry and your company’s gaps in staffing.

The Pledge campaign is calling for all companies to make the equivalent of 2% of their staff interns.

This would be enough to give all this year’s unemployed built environment graduates at least once stint of work experience, keeping them interested in the industry and boosting their CVs, the campaign organisers have calculated.

Employers can pay interns anything from expenses to the market rate for the equivalent permanent role, and they may be employed for anything from a couple of weeks to several months.

The Pledge asks you to advertise internship vacancies (for free) on the government website, graduatetalentpool.direct.gov.uk. Interns employed through this route can continue to claim benefits for a period.

Building is backing The Pledge, which was launched by Stephen Gee, managing partner at consultant John Rowan & Partners.