High school-aged students can learn the fundamentals of marketing and social media management for businesses through a summer internship programme.

Rise Marketing Ltd is now accepting applications to its SkillCraft internship programme, which aims to give youngsters work experience before joining the workforce.

The internship will pair ten applicants with a local business for six weeks of full-time work.

Emilie Faulkner-Meek, the programme’s marketing director, will also teach the young people marketing fundamentals and social media strategy to help them create and deliver a social media plan for their host businesses.

And Margot Shane, the programme’s director, will hold weekly one-on-one coaching sessions to help young people achieve their personal and professional goals.

Ms Shane said that many young people struggle to join the workforce because of their age and inexperience.

But she added that experiential learning has been shown to shorten the gap from school to employment.

Ms Shane said: “Emilie and I set out to build an experiential learning programme that matched the skills and interests that young people have with needs in small business and non-profit operations.”

Ms Faulkner-Meek added: “All too often, young people are thrown into the working world after high school without any experience and often do not get certain opportunities due to lack of experience.

“My first job out of school was so challenging for me that I’ve felt compelled to give young people a chance to experience and develop skills, thoughts and behaviours that will help them find success in the future.

“Creating this marketing internship programme in partnership with Margot, who shares the same passion and has expertise in education, was the perfect opportunity to do so.”

The programme will start on July 5 and is open to pupils aged 15 to 18 as well as any local business.

For pupils and businesses to wish to apply to the programme, click here.