The Employ Autism programme, delivered in partnership with Ambitious about Autism, offers paid internship opportunities to autistic students and graduates.
Thomas Carey, a second-year Accounting BSc Honours student, successfully completed a 40-day internship at King’s College NHS Trust where he worked in the Finance Department as part of the programme.
Thomas gained experience in accounting and an understanding of how an NHS Trust operates financially and following his internship was successful in applying for a placement year with the trust.
This internship programme was offered in partnership with Ambitious about Autism and funded by Santander Universities UK, in recognition of the underrepresentation of autistic graduates in the labour market, with only 29% of those with autism currently in employment.
For more statistics and evidence relating to autistic children and young people in education and employment go to the Ambitious about Autism website.
The internship experience
During the internship, Thomas was able to apply knowledge learnt on his accounting degree and was involved in a variety of tasks such as cost calculations, processing invoices, and confirming and identifying transactions. Further to this Thomas was also tasked with analysing a large amount of data and subsequently presented his findings during a team meeting.
"I enjoyed the inclusive atmosphere within the office, where colleagues would assist me in my tasks as well as educate me on using the accounting software that was used."
Building confidence in a professional environment
Thomas explained that the internship had allowed him to not only further his professional experience but to also ‘apply accounting theory that I had learnt from my studies to a real-life scenario and as a result had allowed me to boost my confidence in working within a professional environment.’
Following the internship, Thomas said that he would ‘highly recommend others to take part in the Employ Autism programme as it offers opportunities for individuals to gain professional experience, as well as boost their confidence'.
The internship experience led to Thomas developing a great interest in an accounting career as well as working for the NHS. After Thomas successfully applied for a placement year at King’s College NHS Trust, he explained that 'by having developed a professional relationship with my line managers, I was able to get a reference to apply for a placement year with the NHS and was successful in my application to get a placement'.
Support the programme
We are still looking for partners for the Employ Autism Programme, so if your organisation would like to get involved by providing a summer internship for 2023 please get in touch via [email protected]