Hire an intern

Hire an intern

The Open University is your local university. We have a wide and diverse community of students and recent graduates across the UK who can demonstrate an abundance of experience and skills.

We are keen to offer our students and graduates a broad range of internship opportunities, both work-based and virtual and full-time or part-time. This means that you can be flexible with your commitments and find an intern to fit your requirements.

Rebecca Fielding of Gradconsult's short video series provides key advice for employers and the process involved when looking to hire an intern.

The benefits of hiring an intern

Free up your staff to work on other projects or high level tasks
Hire an intern to complete a short project
Inject a new perspective and fresh ideas into your organisation
Find future employees by raising your profile and invest in OU talent

The benefits of hiring an OU student or graduate

OU students and graduate are based across the UK, so there's bound to be one near you.
Our students and graduates already have significant life and work experience.
Our students show determination, resilience and strong time-management skills balancing work, life and study.
Our students are diverse and unique, from all ages, all abilities, and all walks of life.

Mark Pragnell of Pragmatix Advisory Ltd shares his experience of hiring OU interns and how they helped him launch his start-up in the wake of coronavirus.

Mairi McLaughlin of sportscotland explains how two OU interns helped develop a new digital platform by bringing new skills to her organisation.

Ling Li of Techarge Ltd talks about how he hired two OU interns and used the opportunity as a 'long-term interview', hiring both interns in full time roles.

Funding for internships

If you're a charity or an SME there may be funding available to support an internship. Get in touch with our team to find out more:

Ask a question or express an interest

Introducing OU virtual internships

Virtual internships are a new approach to providing flexible part-time work experience opportunities. A virtual internship is a work placement that is undertaken remotely, where the intern could be based at home. You’ll have access to a wider talent pool as not restricted to local catchment.

Find out how we can help you offer virtual internships, get involved with our Disabled Veterans Scheme.