Support for businesses in the region

If you are a small to medium-sized business in South Yorkshire, recruiting students and graduates can help your business deal with the present and prepare for the future.

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We are committed to finding new ways of sharing our talent across the region to help businesses innovate and grow and showcasing local organisations.

You may need help to develop new products or services, introduce new systems and procedures or break into new markets.   You may be looking for future business leaders or just need an extra pair of hands to get you through a busy time. Whatever your needs, we will work with you to tailor the ideal strategy for your organisation, ensuring your engagement is impactful and effective.


What we provide

Free vacancy advertising and guidance

We provide advice and guidance to help you create and prepare your opportunities for advertising, such as producing an effective vacancy advert and setting an appropriate graduate salary.

You can advertise vacancies to thousands of our students and graduates and we have additional options for enhanced advertising on social media.  Our Student Jobshop can provide additional support to promote and fill part-time vacancies in South Yorkshire.

Help to complete a project

We can help you access the skills, knowledge and fresh ideas of a student or graduate to assist you with a business problem or challenge by offering a project. This can be as a fixed-term job or internship or undertaken as part of a degree programme.

Assistance with recruiting a placement student

Most students at the University of Sheffield have the opportunity to undertake a placement year as part of their programme. This can be a great way to inject new ideas into your organisation, benefit from the skills and knowledge of students and create a pipeline for any future graduate roles you might offer.

Recruit a placement student

Free support with selection and recruitment

We have dedicated resources available to handle applications and shortlist candidates on your behalf and provide physical and virtual space for you to hold informal, one-to-one appointments with students or formal interviews.

Opportunities to get involved

We offer a flexible programme of physical and virtual events and activities to enable you to introduce your organisation and opportunities and engage with students and graduates from your target disciplines. Most are free to attend, with discounted rates for smaller businesses at any chargeable events.

Help to connect with academic departments

We are ideally placed to link to you to the wider institution.  You may be interested in contributing to curriculum delivery by holding guest lectures or offering projects.  You may like to explore building relationships that lead to advancement of your business in other areas, eg research, CPD, degree apprenticeships.


Access to grants and funding

Our partnerships with funding providers enable us to provide bursaries for short-term internships and graduate roles at certain times of the year.

SME Summer Internship Programme

The University of Sheffield provides grants to SMEs and charities in the Sheffield City Region to host 70 hour student internships as part of the SME Summer Internship Programme.

Unfortunately the SME Summer Internship Programme will not run in 2025, but we hope it will resume in 2026. You can complete our expression of interest form to stay informed.

Hear from employers that have taken part previously:

Watch our video on the student experience of the programme.


Case studies

Find out how we're working with businesses in the region with our employer case studies.


Contact us

To discuss your needs and identify the most appropriate support for you.

Tel: 0114 2220900

Email: careers@sheffield.ac.uk

A global reputation

Sheffield is a world top-100 research university with a global reputation for excellence. We're a member of the Russell Group: one of the 24 leading UK universities for research and teaching.