CYBER

Internship success
for National Crime
Agency
Five graduates recruited as full-time officers
It is a familiar story for
anyone approaching the
end of university – the
stress of finding a job and
putting hard-acquired
qualifications to good use
in making a living.
This time of transitioning from the
world of academia and into the cutand-thrust
of employment is often
a fraught combination of exams,
career fairs and trawling websites
looking for vacancies. Many
graduates face the classic chickenand-egg
situation – having the
right qualifications but needing the
experience demanded by employers.
But in an initiative mutually beneficial
to law enforcement and graduates
alike, the National Crime Agency’s
National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU)
has piloted a 12-week summer
internship for students. And the
scheme has paid off with the
employer retaining five of seven gifted
candidates in full-time roles.
“This represents a great investment
for our unit – we had hundreds of
applications for these placements so
those we selected represent some
of the very best students,” Charlotte
Joergensen, who has been running the
scheme, said.
“The mentors assigned to each of
our interns have been impressed –
particularly as this is the first serious
job for many of the students after
coming from university. They have
been delivering real results.”
A move to seek out and retain
the finest raw talent to help in the
fast-moving battle against cyber
criminals, the internship was drawn
up in consultation with the National
Crime Agency’s human resources
department and was rolled out for the
first time this year.
It was advertised widely – primarily
in universities – attracting some 400
applications from students across the
UK and abroad. Those shortlisted then
“The mentors assigned to
each of our interns have been
impressed – particularly as this
is the first serious job for many
of the students after coming
from university. They have been
delivering real results.”
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