Internships 2.0Advancing Young People’s Human Capital through a New

Generation of Internships

Innopitch 2013European Young Innovator of the Year

“If young people cannot join the work force because of the economic situation and the malfunctioning of the labour market, this is going to be a lost potential for the economy and a lost generation for the society”

László Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

The Big Idea

Internships 2.0 is a social enterprise with a European focus committed to advance young people’s human capital.

We address the structural malfunctioning of the labour market that causes the “young professional trap” by developing an innovative vision of internships.

Our theory of change is to upgrade the relationship between young professionals and employers to its version 2.0.

The Big Issue: The Young Professional Trap

It starts with a paradox: Young people entering the job market face the barrier of being already expected to hold significant working experience; the potential of their human capital is not valued.Employers, often reluctant to invest into costly and demanding trainings, offer low-paid and ineffective internships programs. Thus interns do not acquire valuable working experience and the vicious circle continues…

Source: EC, Eurostat, European Youth Forum

The Big Issue: The Young Professional Trap

By failing to invest in young professionals, employers risk losing innovative human capital greatly needed in the today’s economy and let the best talents go towards far-sighted competitors.

Not sufficiently valued skill set

Reluctance to invest in

young workers

Ineffective internships Loss of

Human Capital

What we offer to solve this trap

Internships 2.0 for EmployersWe offer businesses new ways to attract young talents and transform their internship programmes into a strategic investment.

We build their reputation as employers into a competitive advantage by providing them with services to advertise & implement high quality internship programmes and engage with our unique network of young European professionals.

Internships 2.0 for Young Professionals

We share young people’s vision that first work experiences are the most important ones. We empower them through the first community-driven website combining quality labels and innovative peer reviews of internship offers, crowdsourcing-based research and labour rights advocacy.

A Unique Combination of Services

First European Interns community•Quality internships offers •Full information on employers• Social events•Advices and tips•Network of young professionals•Information sharing

Business Services•Communicate & attract: Building corporate reputation •Identify talents: Easy & efficient recruitment•Trainings : How to implement high quality internships•Targeted advertisement

Rating and label•Ratings of Employers’ internship programmes•Peer to peer reviews•Labels for employers•Labels for internship offers

Advocacy•Youth labour rights’ promotion•Representing young professionals interest•Network of country ambassadors•Advocacy & Research partnerships•Producing reports,

We created a comprehensive and innovative human resources platform dedicated to the youth. We exploit the full potential of social media to answer both

employers’ needs and young professionals aspirations.

First European Interns Community• Access to selected quality internships offers

• Full information on employers internship programmes

(salary, duration, working environment, etc.)

• Community building through organization of activities, social events and mutual help services

• Advices and tips on how to present an application, write CVs, make the most of your internship, find offers that correspond to you

• Database of young professionals profiles

• Contact points and network of university career offices

• Information on youth programmes, grants and scholarships helping youth to integrate into the labour market

• Blog and chat dedicated to share peer’s experiences on internships

FOR INTERNSBYINTERNS

Ratings & Labels

Ratings of Employers’ internship programmes– Based on peer to peer reviews (previous experiences)– Quality criteria based on research cooperation with

institutions, youth organisations and crowdsourcing

Labels for employers– “Top quality employer”

Labels for internship offers– “Looking good” internship– “1st Experience” internship

Business ServicesCommunicate & attract: Building corporate reputation

– Innovative format of internship offerings

– Appealing company profile

– Personal editorial

– Social media services to engage with Y generation

Identify talents: Easy & efficient recruitment– Access to young professionals database

– Filter by criteria

– Pre-selection of candidates corresponding to needs

Trainings on how to implement high quality internships– How to make the most of the Y generation human capital

Targeted advertisement

Advocacy

• Youth labour rights’ promotion & awareness raising campaigns– Social media campaigns– Organizing conferences & events– Debate– Happenings to attract media attention

• Representing young professionals interest at the political level to obtain legislative upgrading; rating political proposals

• Network of country ambassadors monitoring internships legal framework and promoting Internships 2.0’s vision

• Advocacy & Research partnerships with think tanks, international organizations (ILO, OECD) European institutions, trade unions, Youth NGOs, Students association

• Producing reports, studies and information letters

Market AnalysisSize of the European market:

- Around 4 to 5 million young professionals are being offered a traineeship each year in the EU (Eurostat 2010).

- 19.8 million students are enrolled in tertiary education in the EU with 80 % of them eventually doing an internship

Competitive advantage:Many online platforms and career offices provide internship offers. However, at the European level, there is no organisation specifically focused on internships offering altogether a community, an innovative quality assessment system, tailored HR services for the youth and advocacy.One more unique characteristic of Internships 2.0 is that we are a social enterprise committed to the social mission of advancing young people’s human capital.

Case study 1: Online platform for job and internship postingsEuroBrussels.com has over 300,000 visits and around 130,000 unique visitors per month as well as over 90 000 subscribers to their newsletter.They charge 960 euros to post a job ad with high visibility, 560 euros for a standard job ad and also provide a free basic service.

Market Analysis

Case Study 2: The potential impact of a high quality internship programme

In 2010 Swedbank launched the ‘Young Jobs’ project using its network of branches and corporate clients to encourage the creation of trainee positions. • A website was created where young people could search for new trainee

opportunities while companies can enroll in the project. • The total number of 3,000 traineeships were created (three-month term).• Two days of education, as well as five days of tutoring by staff members ensured the

high quality learning content.

Swedbank’s managers evaluated the project as a positive investment:• 82% said that Young Jobs has actively contributed in strengthening the bank’s brand. • 64% answered that they are continuously planning to invite more trainees. • 26% stated that the project has increased business among current clients. • 18 % point out that the project has resulted in new clients. • Of the approximately 400 apprentices within the bank 70% have been offered some

form of employment after their internships. Source: EC, “Towards a Quality Framework on Traineeships” 2012

Action Plan & FundingWhat we have already started:• Building up Internships 2.0’s website • Market research: Contact with the International

Labour Organisation, European Commission, European Parliament, Trade Unions, European Youth NGOs

• Interactive Blog and Crowdsourcing www.internships20.com

Next 6 months:During the website’s development:• Developing training tools• Marketing campaigns• Building the community• Developing Mobile App• Team living expenses• Creating a network of partnering firms • Creating the research partners

Required funding:20 000 euros

2000 euros 5000 euros 5000 euros 12000 euros 20000 euros

Total: 64 000 euros

A Dedicated Team of Young Professionals

The community manager, social media and advocacy - Pierre• MA in European Affairs from College of Europe• European Commission• Confrontation Europe

The business developer and marketing guy- Régis• MSc in Business Administration from LSE• Yunus Social Business Global Initiatives• European Parliament

The IT 2.0 guy - Marcello• Master in Computer Science• 5-year-experienced Web Developer

The researcher and crowdsourcer- Dasha• Master in Law and Political science• European club for Human Resources• Eden Red Public Affairs

“While there are over 2 million unfilled vacancies in the EU, youth unemployment rate in Europe reached 23.3 % and is over 55% in Greece and Spain”

- European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

"Youth unemployment across the European Union risks creating a huge loss of human capital”

- Fabien Zuleeg, chief economist at the European Policy Centre

Our Potential for Europe

“Help us make sure it doesn’t happen”

- Pierre & RégisFounders of Internships 2.0

Contact us: Pierrebosser@internships20.comRegispradal@internships20.com