Turkey’s internship program promotes fair competition

ANKARA 

Turkish citizens or blue card holder students living or studying abroad will be able to benefit from the Turkish Presidency’s Internship Mobilization Program, which promotes fair competition, according to the human resources office. 

The internship program was prepared for university students under the coordination of the Human Resources Office of the Turkish Presidency (CBIKO) in cooperation with all ministries, relevant and related organizations and voluntary employers from the private sector, said the office in a statement.

At least 75,000 university students have completed all application stages and participated since Feb. 22, it said, noting that 2,193 employers, including 410 from the private sector and 1,783 from public institutions, were included in the program.

Applications for the program, which are expected to increase until the deadline on March 22, can be made via "kariyerkapisi.cbiko.gov.tr".

The program provides internship opportunities both in public and private sectors, which are accessible for all university students from all departments, seeking to reduce the talent gap not only in large corporations and companies but in SMEs/start-ups, which form the backbone of the economy, it noted.

An innovative method that aims for equality of opportunity is followed in the program. Applications of students at "kariyerkapisi.cbiko.gov.tr" will be transferred to an intern pool by hiding their personal information but allowing their qualifications to be viewed.

Thus, employers who have access to the internship pool will be able to send internship offers to students based on competency-based criteria.

In the two-stage application process, students will first fill in the application form, which includes their academic, professional, artistic, social and sportive achievements in three different competence areas in which they can be certified.

Then they will complete the application by checking and approving information such as identity, university, department, class, active student, general grade average, foreign language score and university entrance exam results by directing to the e-Government, which has been integrated with the “Career Gate."

Public institutions and private sector organizations will make internship offers to candidates in the internship pool, without seeing their personal information, based on their academic, social and sportive achievements, with a merit-based and transparent method and will compete to recruit students in the internship pool.

The insurance of the students who start their internships will be arranged by the universities and the internship fees will be paid by the relevant institutions.

University students who want to enroll in the internship program can follow the announcements at the Presidential Human Resources Office and the official Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook accounts [@tccbiko and @stjseferbirligi].

The Blue Card is given to those who become Turkish citizens by birth but lose their Turkish citizenship by revoking their citizenship with permission, in order to conduct their business operations in Turkey in a comfortable way.

*Writing by Havva Kara Aydin