The Strive Internship Programme, led by financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown and Bristol City Council is returning for its fourth year and is looking to attract new organisations to grow its impact.  

Strive offers paid internship opportunities to students in the West of England from minority ethnic backgrounds with the aim of providing valuable work experience that builds transferable employment skills and allows students to explore career paths. 

Strive was formed by Hargreaves Lansdown in partnership with Bristol Mayor, Marvin Rees, in 2020 against a backdrop of Covid and rising unemployment amongst Black, Asian and minority ethnic students. The initiative helps students expand their professional network, build career confidence, and learn practical skills. Over the last four years the programme has provided 90 paid internships to students across 25 organisations. 

Successful applicants to the Strive programme will receive between six and eight weeks paid employment starting 1 June 2024.

Anna Langdon, Head of Inclusion, Diversity and Talent at Hargreaves Lansdown added: “We’re thrilled to be taking Strive into its fourth year. The scheme provides high quality paid internships for students from minority ethnic groups in our region and helps them kick-start their careers. We’ve received fantastic feedback from our interns since beginning this journey and hope the experience will help them to secure permanent roles in careers of their choosing.”

Sam Harrison, Marketing Executive at Business West said "The Strive Internship programme is really fantastic. It was great to be able to support a student from an underrepresented group, but on top of that I had a great time working with our intern and she was both productive and added real value in her time with us. We've stayed in touch, and I really hope she can come back to work with us when her university studies are finished."

Strive offers a great opportunity for organisations to build a pipeline of local and diverse talent, and we have been overwhelmed by the volume and quality of applications for our 2024 programme and as such, student applications are now closed. We are keen to attract new organisations to the programme so we can find quality internships for these students, and, in turn, provide organisations with access to talent in the region that bring fresh perspectives and ideas.

Hargreaves Lansdown handle all the candidate attraction and allocate interns to organisations based on sector or role preference. Getting involved in Strive is easy – all you need to do is identify a good role opportunity for an intern and be willing to pay the real living wage.  We run organisational briefings to support you in running your interview and selection process and guide you in how to run a quality internships that benefits you and the candidate. We also run a series of talks for all Strive interns to supplement their learning and broaden their network. If you are interested in getting involved or would like to find out more, please email striveinterns@hl.co.uk or visit our website. 

Some of the organisations already signed up for 2024 include:

• Bristol City Council 
• Bishop Flemming 
• Bristol & Bath Regional Capital (BBRC)
• Business West 
• Ghyston 
• Hargreaves Lansdown 
• IntellectBooks
• PeopleScout
• Plimsoll Productions 
• UWE