Discovery Internships: Boost your CV and make a real-world impact

Pictured: graduates Kate Mansfield and Georgina Bates who both completed a discovery internship during their studies

Would you like to gain valuable real-world experience while pursuing your degree at LJMU?

Apply for a Discovery Internship

Applications for the latest round of Discovery Internships are open now until 22 December for level 5 and 6 students. The paid, 100-hour internships are hosted by local organisations in the Liverpool City Region and can be completed part-time alongside your studies. 

We hear from two recent LJMU graduates who undertook a Discovery Internship in their final year of study about the impact it made as they started to apply for graduate jobs, and how hosting an LJMU student for an internship can also have a huge impact for local businesses.

Final year Marketing student Kate Mansfield's experience

Final year Marketing student Kate Mansfield did a Discovery Internship with Social Flow Collective and having this experience on her CV immediately changed her fortunes when applying for graduate roles:

“During my second year, I was applying for lots of industrial placements and I felt really disheartened as to why I was being rejected from all of them. I realised that my lack of practical marketing experience was missing and it was preventing me from progressing to an initial interview stage.

“In my final year, I was determined to try and get this experience and having Discovery Internships available to us via Unitemps made this possible. Gaining a Discovery Internship with Social Flow Collective and having that experience on my CV meant that I started to get an interview for most of the graduate positions I was applying to for roles after university, and I quickly got into a final round interview stage of marketing graduate scheme.

“My advice to students would be to take advantage of the Discovery Internship opportunities, it really makes all the difference. You develop skills employers are looking for and you can demonstrate them when you are applying for jobs. I also thoroughly enjoyed the experience!”

Final year Business Management student Georgina Bates' experience

Georgina Bates was a final year Business Management student who did a Discovery Internship last year.  She secured a graduate scheme role with MDS as a Trainee in Management Development and she credits the experience she got during the Discovery Internship as key factor in her interview that helped her secure the role:

“One of the biggest experiences I spoke about at my interview for MDS was my Discovery internship attained through Unitemps.

“I started the internship in February 2023 and it enabled me to strengthen my creativity, digital marketing, communication and planning skills.  When speaking of my internship in my final interview, the MDS interviewer was very impressed with the work I had completed for my internship.  I would encourage other students to apply for an internship and document all the work you have done and what skills you have developed.”

Benefits to local businesses – what our Discovery Internship employers say

The benefits to local businesses in the Liverpool City Region can also be significant, particularly for smaller businesses and charities who don’t have the resources of larger organisations.

Second year Geography student Eilis Chadwick applied for an internship with local charity Strawberry Field as a Sustainability Policy Project Assistant. Lynne Furlong, who managed Eilis on the internship, was delighted to share the news of the impact she had made:

“I wanted to highlight the excellent work Eilis has completed as part of the LJMU Discovery Internship, as she has successfully produced the first Strawberry Field Sustainability Policy and complied all the information required to submit a Green Tourism Accreditation application.

“We have now heard back from Green Tourism and we are delighted that we have been awarded a Silver Award and are actually very close to gaining a Gold Award. This is an amazing achievement, so I wanted to pass on our thanks for the wonderful opportunity LJMU and the Student Futures and Unitemps teams provide for both organisations and students.“

As a result of her work Eilis was also awarded ‘Intern of the Year - Highly Commended’ at the Unitemps Awards 2024, which honoured LJMU students and graduates as well as external providers for their contributions to work opportunities and collaboration with Unitemps.  At the same ceremony, Strawberry Field were also named as the winners of External Company of the Year.

Lily Mellor at Liverpool Biennial has taken on a number of LJMU interns as part of the Discovery Internship programme over the last 5 years, most recently final year Fine Art student Ciara Byrne as a Programme Intern. 

“Ciara supported the administration and delivery of our 12^th festival edition. Working closely with the Programme and Learning teams, including our guest Curator Khanyisile Mbongwa and some of our LB2023 artists, Ciara focused on the exhibition build, installation of artworks and management of our launch programme, which included a diverse range of events including performances, talks, screenings and more. Ciara also had individual responsibility for a new reading and learning space at one of our largest venues, Tobacco Warehouse, and she also had opportunity to shadow and learn from all the different Liverpool Biennial departments.

“Ciara brought fresh insight and energy to the team at a crucial moment.  The LJMU interns we have hosted have always gone on to get incredible, well-deserved roles in the arts. Often, we have ended up hiring them back in to support on future events and programmes, meaning we have a richer pool of local talent to draw upon during busy periods - everybody wins.”

Apply now

If you are a level 5 or 6 student looking for an internship that offers mentorship opportunities, and the opportunity to gain real-world experience while still learning academically, then an LJMU Discovery Internship could be for you.  

Students have until midnight on Sunday 22 December 2024 to submit their applications, so check out the opportunities and apply now.

A final round of Discovery Internships for the 2024/25 academic year will launch in spring 2025, so make sure you are registered with Unitemps at LJMU to receive notifications when they launch.

Graduate prospects at LJMU

LJMU is one of the best performing universities in the UK for growing graduate earnings and helping students secure highly-skilled jobs.

The latest data shows that the proportion of the university’s undergraduates gaining high-skilled roles has grown by 7% over the last four years - four times faster than the UK’s higher education sector overall. LJMU’s postgraduate leavers are also more likely to be in highly-skilled employment.

Meanwhile, the rate of earnings for LJMU graduates has also leapt in the same period, with average salaries jumping by 9.8% in a single year.