Young people attending the penultimate and final year of any higher education course have at their disposal an internship grant, created through a partnership between the Youth Foundation and 11 companies in the district of Faro.
Through the Internship Program for Young Students of Higher Education in Companies (PEJENE), the Youth Foundation offers more than 30 internship offers in 13 training areas.
In total, there are 33 vacancies to fill in 13 different areas of training ranging from Accounting and Marketing, through areas such as Physical Education, Business Management or Human Resources, among others.
Internships are available all over the country, and each student has the possibility to apply for up to 4 internship vacancies, according to their preferences.
As Ricardo Carvalho, executive president of the Youth Foundation explains, «PEJENE promotes a direct relationship between the School and the Company/Hosting Entity, through the development of joint training projects in the workplace, even during the period of study of the young".
«This is a program whose main objective is to integrate the intern in a placement organization, developing specific tasks in accordance with an Internship Plan previously elaborated in accordance with the intern's training area. The internships take place under the supervision of an experienced (professional) technical tutor from the placement organization who, at the end of the internship, will prepare a final evaluation report», he adds.
The internships take place between July and September and presuppose the attribution of a food and transport subsidy, as well as a personal accident insurance.
Ricardo Carvalho makes a positive assessment of the program, which is now in its 25th edition and adds that «in the last edition of the PEJENE program, the employability rate, verified after the internship, was 19%, which represents an increase of 4% compared to a 2015. These results are quite significant, taking into account the current situation, in which young graduates face great difficulty in employing».
Companies are increasingly looking for young people with training in specific areas
Since 1992, the program has been responding to the needs of young people completing higher education, allowing them to apply and develop knowledge in a real work context.
«The feedback has been so positive that many of the companies are waiting for the opening of applications to launch vacancies and, often, proceed to the recruitment of interns and potential employees», says Ricardo Carvalho.
«We believe that many of the vacancies are related to the “maturity” of the business fabric and the need to face an increasingly competitive market, in which highly qualified young people have a say and a contribution to make. Many of the internships are related to areas that are now beginning to be seen as priorities, such as communication, marketing, design or technologies", adds the director of the Youth Foundation, who thus justifies the number of vacancies in each of the areas.
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