The National Council for Work Experience (NCWE) is launching a national standard small and medium enterprises (SMEs) offering work experience.

The NCWE Quality Mark (QM) recognises companies that offer quality internships but to date it has only been available to large organisations. Extending to SMEs will help those businesses to compete in attracting some of the best graduate talent.

Jo Denye, quality advisor at the NCWE said: “The employability of graduates is hugely topical as businesses increasingly expect them to have some understanding of the world of work. As a result, the demand for internships has risen and we’ve particularly seen more interest from smaller companies, either wanting to start schemes or be recognised as providing a quality experience”

“We’ve created a quality mark specifically for SMEs to not only help them achieve the recognition they deserve, but also enable them to compete with larger companies for graduate talent. The accreditation process has been tailored so it works for this market, and we are already putting a handful of businesses through the scheme.”