Housing Charity to Create Internships Under Government Initiative
Submitted by paulmeade on 4 August 2011 - 2:21pm
The housing charity Respond! has announced it will be participating in the Government’s new National Internship Scheme, ‘JobBridge’. The Respond! Housing Association has recently advertised internships in a variety of different areas, including human resources, mental health, environmental awareness and working with older people. The internships will last for a period of nine months and the housing charity hopes to create further opportunities in the future.
According to spokesperson Aoife Walsh, Respond! is delighted to be part of the National Internship Scheme as it ties in very closely with the ethos of the charity.
“Respond! has always believed in creating opportunities for our residents, and the new National Internship Scheme is doing this on an even larger scale for jobseekers in the wider community,” said Ms Walsh.
"it will allow us to access recent graduates or jobseekers with fresh ideas"
“We hope that we will be able to provide jobseekers the opportunity to work in a variety of different areas that will not only benefit them but will also be hugely beneficial to us. We believe jobseekers will contribute fresh ideas to our work in the community and we are pleased to be part of this Government initiative. We are currently recruiting interns in four areas including human resources, mental health, environmental awareness and working with older people. We will have completed the recruitment process by the end of August, and look forward to welcoming new interns to the organisations in September,” she said.
Respond! is hoping this will be the first round of internship recruitment and that the charity will be in a position to announce further internships later in the year. The housing charity believes the National Internship Scheme is an exciting new way of getting people back into the workforce where they can learn new skills, as well as gain valuable experience.
“We believe this is a great opportunity for both Respond! and the successful interns, as it will allow us to access recent graduates or jobseekers with fresh ideas, as well allowing interns develop a foundation of experience,” said Ms Walsh. “All interns will be based in our Head Office in Waterford which is positive for the city given recent business and factory closures. The National Internship Scheme will keep unemployed people close to the labour market and increase their employability in the future. Respond! is happy to contribute to the national activation agenda by creating these quality internships and look forward to creating even more internships in the future,” said Ms Walsh.
The National Internship Scheme, which consists of 5,000 places, will give individuals on the Live Register the opportunity to undertake a quality internship in an organisation in the private, public or community and voluntary sectors for a six month or nine month period. Interns will receive an allowance of €50 per week in addition to their existing social welfare entitlement. This allowance will be payable for the duration of the internship.
Further information on the internships is available on www.respond.ie or by emailing recruit@respond.ie.
(source: The Epoch Times)
