Kenny Waste Management Social Enterprise Ltd
An internship placement can be an incredibly powerful tool, helping young people to gain familiarity with a particular sector or field of work. Internships exist to provide transferable skills, useful connections, and industry insights. They enable students and other young people to discover their strengths and attain valuable workplace experience.
Our internships provide essential early experience and the opportunity to further develop a person’s passion for the waste or construction industry. We have a firm commitment to offering interesting work placements and summer internship roles, and we look forward to working with more brilliant students again in 2023. Our ideal candidates possess a great attitude and work ethic, with a genuine interest in learning more about the waste industry.
We believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. All our internship placements pay the Real Living Wage.
As part of our Operation Basecamp signature programme, we offered a diverse range of 2022 internship roles to students from across Greater Manchester. These roles drew on expertise from a variety of departments within our parent company, Kenny Waste Management. They included, but were not limited to, Human Resources, Business Development, and Social Value.
All involved were hugely impressed by the calibre, resourcefulness, and work ethic of our interns:
“These exceptional young people have shown us once again that asking lots of questions is key to making the most of any employment opportunity. All our social enterprise programmes are participant-focussed. In this case especially, we saw our interns leading their development. What stands out is the level of confidence-building taking place here. We took on individuals with a lot of raw potential, but their own willingness to get stuck in is always what drives that personal and professional growth.”
Alex Mayes, Non-Executive Director at Kenny Waste Management Social Enterprise
Our 2022 summer interns came to us from a variety of different universities in the Greater Manchester area, adding their own expertise and unique experiences to the roles they took on. Our approach focusses on raising aspirations by providing advice and first-hand guidance, sharing life skills, and exploring clear career options. We gave each of them a set of core responsibilities, selected to build and capitalise on their individual strengths. Their fresh ideas and ability to work under deadline pressures made a real impression. We are excited to replicate this success in 2023 as we continue to learn from their experiences.
We arranged an interview to speak with several of our interns, after completion of their placements, to review their progress and learn from their experience of the programme. We are pleased to share that some were keen to immediately continue working with us, and others have since dived back into their studies with new experiences and refreshed passion for their chosen field.
Highlights for this past year’s interns included developing transferable skills, such as communication skills, time-management, and balancing teamwork with independent working.
“I feel like I have something up my sleeve now. When I started the internship, I think I lacked perspective. I worried about time management and had a feeling that I was never doing enough. This internship has given me presence of mind and priceless life experience. In particular, the podcasting sessions helped me to develop my own voice and improved my confidence in communicating ideas verbally. Overall, I’ve been treated as a real employee, given real responsibilities, and am excited to throw myself in the deep end with a project I am passionate about.
For anyone who is thinking about diving into a summer internship or another work opportunity, I would say go for it. Definitely prepare, do your research, make lists and allocate time, and most importantly give it your all.”
– Esha
“For me, overcoming the challenges and realising my potential meant learning to ask for help and working together as part of a team. I was encouraged to speak up, and as a result I have developed my communication skills and my input has been listened to. I had genuine trust from my manager, and I am happy that my ideas have been taken on board.
After completing the internship with Kenny Waste Management Social Enterprise, I feel more aware of my strengths. I’ve grown because I have tried, and to give an example I am much less nervous about online speaking.
– Martina
“This internship showed me that it’s basically always good to ask for help. I never thought I could present to a large audience and, looking back, I’m proud of the level of responsibility I took on. One part that stood out to me was how our managers encouraged us to form a support network with each other and find answers together as a team.
My self-doubt has melted away because I tried something new and really pushed myself. The internship and the mentoring especially have given me courage to pursue a career that fits me and my values.
– Imogen
If you or someone you know would benefit from a summer internship experience like Imogen, Martina, or Esha’s, please consider getting in touch with us by calling us on 0161 790 3737, or send us an email with CV and contact details to the email address below. If you represent a university or college and would like to work with us to provide your students with meaningful work placements, we would love to hear from you:
drivingchange@kennywastemanagement.co.uk
