I went to a good school. I went to a good university. I gained a BA (hons) and a high merit in my MA. I was heavily involved with university sports teams and societies as well as having taken part in a lot of charity work. On paper, I seem to be the perfect candidate and in person I’m friendly and professional. So why don’t I have a job?

I am one of the 927,000 unemployed young people of Britain. The recession has arguably hit hardest with those fresh from university. While others have had to tighten their belts, we can hardly afford trousers and are forced to be boomerang children to our baby boomer parents. While some have been forced to take a step down the career ladder, graduates cannot grip even the bottom rung when up against vastly more experienced candidates.

I continuously found that job postings headlined 'entry level' or 'graduate' go on to ask for a minimum of six months experience; experience I don’t have. So how was I supposed to get experience if no one will take a chance? The answer, it turned out, was with Inspiring Interns.

Recent winners of a prestigious BT Essence of the Entrepreneur award, Inspiring Interns was set up in February 2009 by Ben Rosen and Richard Segal. They saw the perfect opportunity to help the ever-increasing number of unemployed graduates find their dream jobs and provide help to small businesses looking for top quality staff while managing even smaller overheads.

I had heard that internships were all photocopying, getting coffee and if you do have a genuinely good idea you’ll never get the credit. However, Inspiring Interns assured me that, as they dealt with small companies rather than global giants, interns make a real difference during their placements. I read countless testimonials from students who had been handed large projects and genuine opportunities.

Nikhil, a Marketing Intern said,
"Inspiring Interns were very effective while I was looking for work after university. After not hearing from the majority of job applications, I decided to go the internship way and get some experience under my belt. I got an interview call within a couple of weeks of signing up and landed a three month internship which taught me a lot. It was a great way to get my foot in the door as well as I was offered a full-time position at the same place"

Joanne Adaken agreed,
"I recently completed a three month internship where I enjoyed working alongside a great Online Marketing team. It has been an amazing opportunity to gain hands-on work experience that you can’t just get in the classroom or in text books. I would definitely recommend Inspiring Interns to everyone as they were very professional and helped me in obtaining the role I was looking for."

It seems that it is not just the intern who benefits but the businesses as well.

Vanessa Wade, Senior VP EMEA for BrightCove, stated,
"We have taken on two interns since we began working with Inspiring Interns and could not be happier with the service they provided. They were well qualified, bright, eager to contribute and assisted our team to deliver projects with tight deadlines in the UK and Germany. They quickly became integral members of the team and their enthusiasm spread through the office - it's been a great by-product of having them. We plan to take on more interns as they have been extremely helpful to our business."

So, what has happened to me, you may be wondering? I was offered two internships within a week of registering the company but chose instead to become a member of the Inspiring Interns team. Along with a fellow intern I am one half of the marketing team.

In charge of getting the word out to unemployed graduates and students I have gained experience that is truly measurable – and not just in cups of coffee – with a company I really believe in and have been offered payment to stay on. So now there’s one less unemployed graduate, and we’re working on the other 926,999.